


Everything She Ever Wanted

by shes_an_oddbird



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: 13 Going on 30 AU, F/M, daisy as becky, fitz as matt, jemma as jenna, raina as lucy, that was a pain when i first started writing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-02
Updated: 2016-05-17
Packaged: 2018-05-24 06:37:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 29,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6144787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shes_an_oddbird/pseuds/shes_an_oddbird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All 15 year old Jemma Simmons wants is to be older. Old enough to be respected by her colleagues and appreciated for her contributions to the scientific community. She knows its silly, she can't magically age herself but it doesn't stop her from making a wish on the watch Fitz gives her, just as it strikes 11:11. When she suddenly finds herself 28 years old Jemma wonders if its time to start believing in magic, until she realizes being an adult is not what she'd thought it would be. </p><p>A Fitzsimmons 13 Going on 30 AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

It was when Dr. Powell’s eyes completely glazed over that Jemma knew she had lost him. She had tried to stand taller, straighten her already perfect polo shirt and khaki’s, give her voice a more authoritative tone, all to no avail. The man was slumped in his leather chair, fingers drumming impatiently on his desk. He even had the nerve to yawn, as though they couldn’t see him. Now, Jemma Simmons was a lot of things, fifteen years old and double doctorate, the poster girl for nerd chic style, British and an avid watcher of Doctor Who, but on her long list of credentials no where did is list 'blind.'

She had half a mind to walk out right then and there but Fitz had gestured for her to continue so she persisted on, explaining how excited they were for the opportunity to work as part of the SciTech team, going into detail about their combined experience and ideas they already had forming in their minds. Fitz jumped in when called for and the change in voices seem to bring Dr. Powell out of his stupor long enough to blink and nod a few times.

Eventually Jemma recited the conclusion she had prepared for their presentation. When she stopped talking Dr. Powell didn’t budge. She brought her hands up, clapping them together, “so I guess will see you Monday.”

The clap had snapped Dr. Powell back to reality. He stood up, reached across the desk to shake their hands with a half-hearted ‘we look forward to working with you’ and excused himself from the office.

“That could not have gone worse.” Jemma groaned as the pair stepped out into the hall.

Fitz sniggered, casting a glance at his dramatic partner. “I think you may be exaggerating a bit.”

“Oh yeah, how?!” she demanded.

“He didn’t fall asleep.”

Jemma squeezed her eyes shut, “he might as well have for all he heard, I just wanted to make a good impression, we’re not students any more Fitz we’re faculty—“

“We’re interns Simmons.”

“—we’re scientists and I want SciTech to know they made the right decision in keeping us here.” She had wanted to use their first meeting with the head of the department to make an impact and to prove that she and Fitz could walk amongst the faculty like they were meant to be there. She had not taken into account that the new department head clearly did not give a damn about their goals or the projects they were excited to take on or that she a Fitz were a pair of the brightest minds the scientific world had to offer.

He didn’t care that she had spent a week preparing that presentation and spent the entire day before in a state of anxiety induced panic over it.

Fitz hadn’t thought any of it was necessary. He insisted that since SciTech had put up as much of a fight to keep them there as all the other companies did to steal them away that she was really worrying for nothing.

In a way he had a point, though she wouldn’t admit it. When they had officially received their PhDs the job offers had started pouring in by the dozens. Everyone seemed to want them on staff. Jemma suspected that for some of them it was simply so they could brag about it. She was quick to weed out the superficial positions but they were still left with a good number of bids.

They narrowed it down quickly though having agreed when they first began the job hunt to rule out any offers that didn’t equally benefit the both of them, knowing wherever they went they were going together.

They pair had crossed paths through most of their childhood; during science fairs and evaluations, interviews and conferences. It came to a point where they would track down the other at the first sign they were at the same function. When they got a little older they decided when they were on their way to their doctorates they would attend the same school. That school ended up being SciTech Academy so Jemma would admit that they had been favorable to their offer to stay on as interns.

Despite her few years already spent with SciTech it didn’t ease her mind as she continued to replay the travesty of a meeting over and over in her mind even after they stepped out of the research facility. “Maybe I should have worn a suit, he might have taken us more seriously if we smartened up a bit.” She hated her suit. It didn’t fit right, like she’d stolen it from her mum’s closet. She wasn’t sure Fitz even owned a suit.

“I don’t think he cared what we were wearing.” Fitz seemed to notice that his attempts to ease her worries were failing and tried for a distraction instead. “Relax Simmons, come on, I’ll buy you some tea and the new copy of Science To Go.”

A smile fought its way on to her face. She couldn’t say no to such a tempting offer. “And a scone?” She asked as they stepped off the stoop of the building. Fitz bumped her shoulder, “we haven’t started our jobs yet Simmons.”

“Next week then.”

Jemma tried to keep her mood light as she and Fitz crossed the street to the campus coffee shop. With a warm mug of tea and copy of the newest issue of Science To Go it was a fairly easy task. Science To Go wasn’t as prestigious or engrossing as the journals that she typically read but it was well written, if dumbed down a bit for the general public, and it tended to be the most up to date on scientific happenings. This month’s issue featured an article on the best young minds in various fields that she was dying to read.

She and Fitz tucked away into a corner of the coffee shop silently reading the profiles for each scientist and engineer with occasional comments exchanged between them. Jemma would finish a page and wait for Fitz to nudge her side, indicating that she could flip the page. She never had to wait more than a second or two.

Sometimes he would finish before her but she would sooner go back and read what she had to skip later than admit that she had a few words to go.

After flipping the page and seeing the article was over Jemma closed the magazine and glanced over at Fitz. He had pulled a pen from his pocket and was scribbling out some equation on to the napkin left on the table by a previous customer. He was trying to disprove a theory mentioned by one of the featured researchers.

“We should be in magazines like this.” She announced, “Best young minds of our generation, that describes us to a tee but did they contact you about being included, did they contact me, I don’t think so.”

Fitz visibly cringed. “We’ve been in tons of publications.”

“Only those ones targeted at kids, not that those aren’t important but I want real recognition from our peers, ones actually on our level.” She explained.

“Recognition would be nice but I’d prefer not to have my face in print.” He said, still going over the calculations.

Jemma smirked. “Afraid you might develop a little fan club?”

“More concerned with what might get doodled on my face in some dentist’s waiting room.” He replied without missing a beat, sending her into peals of laughter. He was right, sadly. They were a pasty skinny awkward pair and just the type to be doodled on and vandalized.

“One day though,” he said interrupting her giggles and looking up at her, “I bet you’ll be on the front cover, when we’re the kind of ‘young’ they’re actually looking for and we have a ton of amazing discoveries and patents to list and crazy stories about lab accidents that should have ended in disaster but miraculously didn’t, things people actually want to read about.” Fitz said wistfully. “We can talk about our first meeting, with our first boss and how panicked you were that you didn’t wear a suit.”

Jemma’s laughter settled and her smile softened. That sounded even better than tea and scones. “I’m looking forward to it.”

“Me too.”


	2. To Be Older

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fitz tries to cheer up Jemma after their supervisor continues to ignore them.

“Simmons.”

…

“Simmons.”

“Hmm.” Jemma hummed, not looking up from the microscope.

“Simmons!”

“What is it Fitz, I’m very busy.” Oh now she’d lost her place, she’d have to start all over again.

Fitz nodded his head towards the lab window where Dr. Powell was passing by. A jolt of urgency shot through Jemma as she jumped up from her work bench, nearly toppling her stool. She was barely out the door and already calling for the older gentleman. He was impossible to have a face to face conversation with and she couldn’t let the opportunity pass. “Dr. Powell, Dr. Powell!” He couldn’t ignore her; everyone else in the hallway was turning to face her with strange looks.

“Dr. Powell!” She shouted again. He stopped with his hand hovering over the door handle that would allow him to escape to his office.

His voice was laced with false enthusiasm when he finally turned to greet her. “Good Morning Ms. Simmons, is there something I can help you with?”

Jemma bit back the urge to correct him. He knew she was a doctor. He addressed all their other colleagues by their titles but with her, not once. Unfortunately he had control over all the projects she and Fitz worked on so snapping at him was out of the question. “I was wondering,” she said instead, “if you have had the opportunity to look over the last proposal we submitted.”

“I look over a lot of proposals Ms. Simmons, I must have four sets of blue prints on my desk at this very moment.”

“The designs for the goggles that when worn, show a distinction between densities of material.” Oh why bother, it didn’t mean anything to him. “Green binder, schematics on a CD-ROM, we, Dr. Fitz and I—“ That’s it Jemma, work it in casually “—were hoping to receive authorization to begin on a prototype.”

She waited patiently while Dr. Powell came up with an excuse. “I’m afraid you need the board’s approval to move forward on all projects, not mine.” He turned back for the door and Jemma stepped into his path. She and Fitz had worked so hard on those goggles. She wasn’t going to give up so easily. Nodding her head to show she understood she continued on.

“Yes, I know, but you are the one who passes along promising designs and they greatly respect your opinion, otherwise they wouldn’t have put you in charge right?” He didn’t look directly at her. She kept her feet planted and her eyes steady until he finally released a heavy sigh.

“Why don’t you resubmit them, I’ll look them over with a closer eye and decide if it is something that the board would be interested in focusing on.”

Her heart fell but she kept her shoulders back and head high. “Of course, thank you Mr. Powell.” This time when he stepped towards his door she let him pass. When she returned to the lab Fitz looked up at her with a sympathetic smile, trying to calm her before the inevitable rant. He was unsuccessful.

“It’s completely unfair!”

“Didn’t even look at it, did he?”

“NO! Of course not but why should he, I mean we’re only the smartest people here, why should any of our work be worth anyone’s time.” Flinging herself on to her stool she knocked the lab bench causing the vials of samples to shake. Fitz jumped forward to still them.

Jemma scolded herself for letting her anger disrupt her lab safety protocol. “Sorry, I’m just so irritated.”

He shot her an understanding smile, “I know, he called you ‘miss’ again didn’t he?”

“I’ve got two PhD’s Fitz, that’s one more than he’s got.”

Fitz snorted, “I know.”

Jemma gave her own heavy sigh. “It’s not like I don’t know that I’m fifteen, I’m perfectly aware that I’m fifteen but they treat us like we’re five. We have brilliant ideas. You’ve filled numerous books with sketches and I have enough research to dedicate whole journals to, why doesn’t that count for anything?”

They had been with SciTech as  interns for nearly six months and they had not had one opportunity to use their resources to their full capabilities. She had tried to be patient, a trait she prided herself on possessing, but when SciTech promoted them to interns she had been given high hopes of following through on some of the designs that had once impressed their professors.

She honestly felt as though they had more respect as students.

“It’s only because we don’t have the experience to back it up, we’ll get there Simmons, we just have to wait it out.” Fitz told her reasonably.

Still feeling rightfully indignant about the entire situation she groaned out a response, “I don’t want to wait ten years for respect from my colleagues.”

“I respect you.”

The promptness and surety of his reply caught her off guard. “Fitz—“ She couldn’t take her annoyance out on him any longer. Her first thought had been that that didn’t count but that wasn’t true. His admiration meant more to her than anyone else’s, not that she’d ever tell him that. But he couldn’t authorize them putting their ideas into motion. “Thank you.”

Giving up for another day Jemma pulled her work back in front of her and started where she left off making observations about the solutions in front of her. A minute later she could feel Fitz’s eyes still on her. Without even looking up she knew what he was thinking. “No Fitz.” They had far too much work to do. They could not just get up and leave.

Fitz was already packing up his things.

“We have work to do Fitz.” She said, finally looking up at him.

“You need a break.” He crammed a notebook into his back, confirming his intended destination without words.

“We don’t have the time.” She insisted.

“You just said no one even notices us here, no one is going to care if we take an extra-long lunch.”

“They’ll notice if our work is incomplete.” She refused to budge except to cross her arms and make it very clear that she did not approve. It didn’t stop him from pulling on his sweater and scooping up his bag. When she still didn’t move he packed up her bag too and stubbornly hung it off her unyielding shoulders. She had to bite back her smile when one strap slid down her arm and he hastily grabbed a binder clip from the nearest drawer to secure it to her sleeve. He stepped back, watching the other strap, daring it to fall. It didn’t.

“Good, let’s go.”

“Alright, alright.” She laughed, unable to keep it in any longer. “We’ll go but you owe me three hours of uninterrupted work later.” She adjusted her bag so that it was on properly and binder clip free before following him out of the lab.

* * *

 

And that was how she ended up at the zoo.

“Does it really not bother you?”

“Not really, come on Simmons I’m the one with the sensitive stomach and you can’t handle the monkey picking his nose.”

Jemma rolled her eyes and leaned back against the wood slats of the bench. It was a large zoo. One with beautiful exhibits, exceptional zoologists, a four-star restaurant on the grounds and always had at least one school group running around. It had become their favorite place to go when they hit a road block in their research or needed inspiration or if it was just a really nice day. Inevitably they ended up at the primate habitat. Fitz enjoyed observing them and making sketches of the way they moved. He had dreams of constructing a monkey robot assistant ever since he accepted keeping an actually monkey in the lab, trained or otherwise, was likely to lead to chaos.

“That’s not what I was talking about, although I do find it a bit gross.” She replied, trying not to watch the monkey digging its finger up its nostril.

“Says the girl who was dissecting a cat yesterday.”

“I bought you a new sandwich Fitz please do not bring that up again.” She snipped, exasperated that he had in fact brought it up _again_.

“Of course it bothers me Jemma,” Fitz continued, switching to the topic she was actually addressing. “But the respect will come and in the meantime we can research the things that we want to in our spare time and we can take breaks whenever we want and not every minute of every day has to be about work.”

“But I like working.” Working gave her a sense of purpose and productivity.

“But you have to have fun too.”

“I think work is fun.”

Fitz continued to sketch. One of the monkeys had somersaulted and a smile had spread across his face in a very childlike manor that she normally found endearing but today it just served to frustrate her farther.

“I wish we were older.”

“Isn’t that the exact opposite of what women usually say?”

She shoved his knee and he withdrew his statement. “I’m not saying I want to be old, just older, old enough that when people look at me they take me seriously; thirty I think.”

“Thirty?” He asked skeptically, not looking up from his paper.

“It’s a good age.” Old enough to be in a good place financially, old enough to have built up a solid reputation in her career, old enough to be a steady relationship and skip all the troubles of dating.

“I don’t want to be thirty.”

Jemma glared at him, though he didn’t see. “Fine, how about twenty eight, any younger and we would still have the respect issue”

 “Are we discussing this seriously, have you got a time machine I don’t know about.” He glanced at her this time through the blonde curls falling over his eyes.

“Don’t be ridiculous Fitz.”

“I’m not, you think I don’t know it’s your dream to build a working Tardis.”

“I’m just so tired of people treating me like a child.”

As if on cue a group of school children on a field trip showed up, running for the glass that separated them from the primates. Great, she thought, her and Fitz would blend right in. The monkey Fitz was sketching scampered away. Obviously disappointed Fitz set down his drawing pad and finally looked directly at her.

“I wouldn’t say they treat you like a child.”

“My parents moved to America with me when I went to university and now they won’t leave, did your mum feel like you needed supervision when you went to MIT?” She asked unnecessarily. She knew the answer was no.

“No but—”

“And the tasks they do give us at the lab are trivial, the only reason we have time to think about our own projects is because the things they deem us qualified for can be completed in mere minutes by a college undergraduate and when we do submit our own ideas they aren’t even looked at.”

“Maybe we could ask for more difficult assignments.” He tried. It was useless; she was on a roll now.

“And I know it’s a bit superficial and I wouldn’t want to date any of them anyways, but why must every single one of my male colleagues look at me like I have pig tails and braces, I know legally they can’t ask me out but they don’t need to talk down to me it’s offensive.”

Fitz struggled longer for a response to that one, thrown by the change in topic. “I’m sure if they could ask you out without fear of being arrested they would and it’s not like any of them are worth your time, you’re always saying how bloody boring everyone is.”

“I know, it’s just I’m fifteen years old I’d kind of like to go on a date.”

It really was completely unfair. The academy had young freshman who were maybe seventeen or eighteen so not so much older than her that it would be weird for them to have an interest in her but intellectually she was on a whole other level. What would they even talk about over dinner?

She stood, assuming the noise of the school children would be enough to move Fitz on to something else. When she looked down at him he was giving her a curious look, like he had a question but didn’t know how to phrase it. “What?”

He shook his head. Maybe he just hadn’t realized he’d been staring at her rather than off into the distance. He did that sometimes; she seemed to frequently in his line of sight when it happened. “Nothing, we should get going I guess.”

They walked through the crowds of people; it was a busier day than usual. End of year field trips, kids already on summer holiday, and there was some huge event taking place in the center courtyard. They had seen balloons and decorations when they had entered the zoo but hadn’t thought much on it. Jemma assumed it was a birthday party, a large one, but still just a kid’s event. It wasn’t until the crowd grew thick with brightly dressed adults did she think it may be something else.

“Can you see anything?” She asked Fitz. That was a silly question. He was barely an inch taller than she was. He shook his head back at her, took her arm and tugged her towards the nearest picnic table. He stepped up on to the bench and held out his hand to pull her up beside him. Once on the bench she kept a firm grip on his arm and pushed herself up on to her toes. She smiled at the sight in front of her.

“Oh a wedding, how wonderful!” A beautiful young couple stood grinning at each other with a stunning back drop of the stone cliffs from the big cat exhibit behind them. Colorful groupings of balloons and flowers decorated the railing. They were just in time to see the pair share their first kiss as a married couple and when the crowd burst into applause and she and Fitz quickly joined in. In the distance a lion roared loudly. Jemma immediately started laughing.

“I hope that wasn’t an objection.”

“Bit late if it was.” Fitz said in return. Jemma was genuinely surprised to see his delighted expression. He was watching the couple walk back down the make shift isle between the guests with a grin on his face. Once they were clear Fitz hopped off the bench and held out his hand to assist her. She took it, still watching him curiously. “What?” He asked in response to her questioning look.

“I just expected more disgust I guess.”

“What do you mean?”

She jumped down off the bench. “Please, I know how you are about PDA.”

He shrugged at her and Jemma watched amused as he struggled to explain himself. “It’s their wedding, its different is all.”

“Aww, well that’s sweet, I always thought you’d be the type to not—well not not get married per say but certainly not make a fuss about it if you did.” She admitted.

Fitz looked wistfully in the direction of the couple. “You make it that far in a relationship and I guess I think you deserve to make that day special.”

“Now that’s really sweet.”

He didn’t say anything else, just turned away from her and she knew it was because she’s made him blush. Still averting his eyes he tried to change the subject. “Do you think if we hang around they’ll pass out cake?”

Her first thought was to remind him that he owed her work for their little excursion but thanks to their unplanned outing she felt significantly better than she had that morning so she agree to wait for cake instead. They would just have to make up their work tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try to repost the edited old chapters quickly and space out the new ones once I get to them. I already feel better about this story so I hope everyone is enjoying it.


	3. For Fitz to Stop Rambling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fitz has a gift for Jemma.

The next morning Fitz placed a small, neatly wrapped box in front of her. She looked down at it and then back up at him for an explanation. He didn’t give her one. Just avoided her gaze and pushed the gift closer to her.  She picked it up and pulled lose the ribbon, unwrapping it carefully in case the contents were fragile. Lifting the lid revealed a beautiful watch that took her breath away. Removing it from the box carefully she ran her fingers over the cool metals that made up the woven band. It had a simple round face with a serotonin molecule shimmering in the background.

It left her speechless, nearly a minute passed before she could put together a sentence. “This is beautiful, but why?” She knew she shouldn’t question a gift, it was rude, but she wasn’t sure she understood.

“It’s not for any occasion, I just-I wanted to try to cheer you up since you were so upset yesterday.” He explained hurriedly.

Her heart swelled. He had to be the sweetest boy she’d ever met. She should have told him that her mood had greatly improved with their impromptu zoo trip and wedding crashing so that he wouldn't worry.

“—I mean I had been working on it for a while, since the clasp broke on your old one, but I had some time to finish it last night so—“

Jemma picked up bits of his ramblings as she fawned over the watch. When his words finally registered with her she snapped her eyes to his. “You made this?!” She exclaimed so loudly he jumped.

He looked taken back by her response. “Yeah, well there are usually scraps from projects around the lab and all the tools are here and I know how to make a watch work although I don’t know much about the aesthetics but I thought it looked kind of nice anyways.” By this point he was gesturing wildly at the watch with one hand while the other rubbed nervously at the back of his neck. “You don’t have to wear it,” he finally said, “I just know that you like to have one and haven’t replaced your old one.”

Jemma had to do something about the stress that was emitting from him. This was possibly the most beautiful gift she had ever received and he was acting as though he had handed her a grenade. She crossed to his side of the work station and wrapped her arms around his middle, pinning his arms to his sides and ceasing his frantic movements. “I love it, thank you.”

“Really?” She could feel him relax as she nodded against his shoulder. His arms twisted to return her hug.

After a moment, a moment longer than necessary, she stepped back, held the watch out to him and extended her other hand, palm up, so that he could help her put it on.

She saw him hesitate for a moment but couldn’t understand why. He ran his thumb along the underside of the watch before very quickly securing it to her wrist. It was a perfect fit.

“How did you know how big to make it."

His ears turned pink. “I guessed, your wrist is only a bit smaller than mine so…”

Jemma gazed happily at the watch, admiring the way it sparkled just a bit and wasn’t too heavy and didn’t slide or twist out of place. The serotonin molecule faded and and was replaced with the one for acetylcholine, after staring a moment longer the Virgo constellation appeared. “It’s wonderful, thank you so much.” She looked more closely at the face, it was 11:09 according to the little hands and her eyes jumped to the nearest clock in the room to make sure it was correct.

“I’ve already set it,” Fitz explained proudly, “and the battery is extra-long lasting, shouldn’t give you any trouble anytime soon.” He tapped the glass covering, “you also shouldn’t lose or eh-gain any time.”

“Well of course not, you programmed it.” She watched his cheeks flush to match his ears. It was so easy to embarrass him.

In his flustered state he began to ramble once more, “I mean, it shouldn’t but if it ever does—“

“You and I both know it won’t.”

“Right, hey look almost 11:11 you should make a wish.” She was certain he was trying to remove the attention from himself because there was no way he encouraged such illogical nonsense.

“Fitz you don’t really believe in that sort of thing?”

Jemma firmly believe that anything you wanted in life you had to earn. Wishes were just words and uttering them at a certain time of day didn’t mean it was any more likely to come true. Fitz shook his head, “No, I don’t but I don’t think it’s so pointless,” he paused, deciding the best way to explain. “It’s a nice way of reminding yourself of a goal you’re working towards, a different way to remember to work hard and you can have whatever you want.”

Jemma nodded, that was a perspective on wishing that she could get behind. “Fair enough, but I can’t wish or work myself into being older.”

“If you’re going to be stubborn about it I’ll make a wish.” He said his confident tone returning. He closed his eyes, smiling as he held tight to her wrist, clasping his hand over the watch. It was silly, she knew, but she quickly tugged her wrist back.

“It’s my watch, if one of us is going to make a wish that’s not going to come true it should be me.”

“Well do it then, you’re running out of time.”

“Fine.”

This was ridiculous. She placed her hand over the watch. Did she have to be in contact with it for it to count? Did it not count that she was wearing the watch and therefore already touching it? She wondered how she could phrase her wish without sounding silly. Did she have to say it out loud? “I wish I was old enough to have the respect of my colleagues, old enough to no longer be looked at like some kind of oddity just because I’m intelligent, I wish I was old enough to really enjoy life.”  When she finished her wish she looked back down at her watch. It had moved on to 11:12. “Oh well, guess I was too late.”

Fitz rolled his eyes and muttered something about a waste of a wish. She distinctly heard the words ‘should’ve asked for a monkey’ as he turned away to set up his work for the day.


	4. An Opportunity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fitzsimmons are offered the opportunity that Jemma has been dreaming of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> posting to balance out the lack of Fitzsimmons in tonight's new episode. Not complaining though. At least they were safe, happy and scienceing. A shame I'll have to ruin that.

When a knock sounded on the lab door later that day Jemma really couldn’t look away from her work to acknowledge it. If the beaker’s contents reached a boiling point before she took down the necessary observations she’d have to start all over again. Fitz would just have to tell whomever it was that now was a bad time.

“Dr. Fitz, Dr. Simmons?” Jemma cut off the burner and turned to face their guests at the surprising use of her proper title. Dr. Powell was standing in the doorway with a smartly dressed black woman who clearly was the one to address them. She looked between the two of them as though trying to decide which one of them was which. Jemma raised her hand and pointed at Fitz, “Fitz.”

“Simmons.” He added, mimicking her gesture.

“Dr. Ann Weaver,” she introduced. She stepped forward to shake hands with each of them. Jemma had to quickly remove her protective gloves. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet the two of you.”

It was hard to keep her mouth falling open in disbelief. She didn’t know who this woman was but she seemed to know them and that was always a little ego boost. She glanced at Fitz to see if there was any recognition on his face but he seemed just as taken back as she was. “I’m sorry,” Jemma finally said, “are you a scientist here at SciTech or –“

Dr. Weaver shook her head. “Oh no, no, no I’m with SHIELD, maybe you’ve heard of us.”

Jemma stood taller, not an easy task being as short as she was. “Well of course! Who isn’t familiar with SHIELD, you’re one of the top research companies in America, you have got more brilliant scientists working for you then I could even begin to list.” It was true; nearly every other journal she picked up had a paper written by a SHIELD employee.

“What brings you here?” Fitz asked.

“Well you see I’m with SHIELD’s recruitment program.” Jemma’s fingers twitched with anticipation. “It’s my job to keep an eye out for those I think will bring advancements and innovation to the science and technology fields and do what I can to encourage them to join the SHIELD team, imagine my excitement when in my search I stumbled across a pair of child prodigies with three PhDs between them and you’re only fifteen is it?”

“Yes ma’am.” They answered together.

“Engineering and Biochemistry, correct? We have excellent departments for both of those fields at SHIELD—“ Before Dr. Weaver could jump into her well prepared speech about the incredible reputations of their preferred departments Fitz spoke up.

“Wait whoa, hang on a moment,” Jemma glared at Fitz for interrupting Dr. Weaver but he didn’t notice. “Just so we’re clear you came to our work place in the middle of the day and in front of our supervisor are asking us if we would like to come work for you.”

Dr. Weaver smiled. “I have found that SciTech sometimes will underutilize those who have great potential, they are an excellent academy, of that there is no doubt in my mind but I feel the resources that SHIELD can offer you, the chance to work on real projects and even down the line some of your own is a better environment for a brilliant pair like yourselves.”

Jemma’s heart was actually racing. “Dr. Weaver, this is such an amazing offer, how do we proceed, do we need to meet with anyone or do you need to review some of our work close up, we could put together a presentation of our work if you’ve got some time.” Jemma could hear the words spewing out of her mouth and was well aware just how desperate she sounded without Fitz nudging her in the back to get her to stop. “Sorry, I just don’t like to pass up an incredible opportunity is all.”

Dr. Weaver smiled understandingly at her. “I was actually hoping to set up an interview with the both of you and our board for this Friday,”

“Not sooner?” Jemma asked. Desperate, desperate, desperate, chorused in her head.

“I’ve got to fly out to California tonight to meet with another potential candidate tomorrow.” She explained.

“Oh, of course.” Jemma’s stomach turned. A minute ago the offer seemed more like a sure thing than a competition.

“I don’t mean to panic you, as long as you impress the board as well as you impressed me there will be a position for you at SHIELD.” Dr. Weaver said reassuringly. “I encourage you both to take tomorrow to think about it and I’ll see you at noon on Friday?”

Jemma and Fitz nodded. Weaver gave them the SHIELD labs address and told them who to ask for. She shook their hands again before taking her leave with Dr. Powell, who had stood back quietly the entire time looking mildly irritated with the disruption to his day.

As soon as they were clear from the lab, Jemma’s bottled up excitement uncorked and she actually squealed. She turned on Fitz, hands snatching on to his arm in a vice grip. For his part he had been stunned into silence, not a common occurrence, although there was a smile quickly spreading across his face.

“Guess you didn’t waste that wish.”

* * *

 

“We have to go Fitz.” As if there was any question about it.

She didn’t know why but when she had come into work the next morning Fitz’s enthusiasm about yesterday’s offer had died down which she immediately tried to remedy. The second their lunch break started she had them out of the lab and on their way to the zoo. She had packed his favorite sandwich for lunch, originally as a celebratory treat but now was going to be used as a bribe. She waited until he had a mouthful of prosciutto and mozzarella before diving into her prepared monologue.

“This is such an amazing opportunity, we’d be working on real projects and be a part of the development and see it through to the final product. Not to mention it could be challenging, no more mindless tasks but actually being able to use our brains.” She felt inclined to get as much of her argument out before he could speak. “And just imagine having colleagues who actually respected us, who valued our opinions and didn’t just disregard all of our efforts.” That had to be a huge selling point. She was louder in her complaints about the lack of acknowledgment of their skills but she often heard his mumbles about underappreciated genius.

Fitz set down his sandwich and looked across the picnic table at her. “You’re really excited about this aren’t you?”

She nodded. “Yes I am but you’re not and I don’t understand why, yesterday you agreed that this was an offer we couldn’t even think to turn down.”

“I know and I was excited, now I’m just less sure is all.” She fixed him with a look, waiting for him to elaborate. “I did some research on my own, on SHIELD and I just don’t know if it’s the right place for us.” He finally admitted and Jemma started to understand.

“I did research too Fitz and they have one of the best research and development departments in the country!”

“Yeah and most of their focus is on weapons and military transportation is that really what you want to put your skills into?” Jemma had seen all of that come up in her research and he was right it wasn’t really a field she was excited about but the sort of advanced technologies they used to create those things were. And it wasn’t like that was all they worked on.

“Well yes but they do other things,” most of it was for government use, “other transportation, emergency medical, biomedical, field assistants, gadgets –“ so maybe she was reaching by that point but he needed to convince him this was the right choice.

“Alright well most of their funding goes into the weaponry.” Fitz clarified.

“Weaponry used to protect innocent people. It’s not like SHIELD’s ever been reported for any underhanded dealing and they are consistently recognized as positive organization to work for.” Fitz just shrugged at this information. “Come on this is really not your best excuse Fitz, you can tell me the real reason.” She tried knowing that all this weapons talk wasn’t the real problem.

“I like the way things are Jemma,” he said, not looking at her, “we come to work every day, we do the things were told and we have free range access to some top quality equipment to dabble in whatever we want.”

“But no one ever takes _those_ designs seriously.”

“Yet!” Fitz retorted, “they don’t yet, but we are only fifteen, I’m okay without having all the pressure and the workload, that’s how it’s been since my very first day of school and I know it’s been the same for you and there is nothing wrong with a little bit of downtime.” Downtime? That’s why he didn’t want to go. She knew he could be a bit of a slacker but he’d never let it interfere with important life decisions.

“There will be thousands of opportunities for us Simmons, we don’t have to rush into the first one that’s presented to us. We can stay at SciTech, we can take ridiculously long lunch breaks, research whatever we want and then go home at the end of the day and not dwell on any of it.”

Jemma’s stomach tossed as she came to a surprising realization. “You really don’t want to go.”

He picked at the sandwich on his plate, “I was still thinking about it.” He said fairly. 

“But you don’t.”

“But you do.” He said looking up at her.

She shook her head. “Fitz we are an excellent team but that shouldn’t be what convinces you, the resources, the respect, the opportunity.”

He stared at her and for a brief second his eyes shifted down to her hands before jumping back up. “Right, of course.” He paused, “but it’s not.”

* * *

 

They didn’t speak on the matter again. Jemma hoped that after he slept on it he would have changed his mind and join her for the interview. She arranged for a cab to pick her up at eleven o’clock and Fitz walked her down to the side walk shortly before then. He probably hadn’t changed his mind since he was dressed in jeans and a plaid button down. Certainly not appropriate interview attire. She fiddled with her watch, unsure how to ask him to change his mind about coming.

“I’m sure you’ll have a great interview, it’s just a technicality really, probably more to impress you, they’d do anything to have someone as brilliant as you.” He said reassuringly.

“They want you there as much as they want me,” she tried.

“Jemma—“

“Please come with me Fitz.” She blurted out.

He averted his eyes quickly, his hands coming together, knuckles of one digging into the palm of the other. “I can’t, I’m not ready to be there.”

“But I’ll be there and I promise it won’t be that different Fitz.” She reached out for his arm, gripping the soft material of his shirt in her hand.

“Of course it will be different-“

“But in good ways, with respect from our colleagues and challenging assignments and wonderful new resources!” Jemma insisted for the hundredth time. She had to change his mind. She ignored the cab that pulled up beside them. “We can still go to the zoo on our lunch break and play with impossible ideas, no one can stop us from doing that.”

“Unless they take away our time, I’m not ready to dive back into to be constantly judged and poked and prodded in to doing work, ten plus years was enough.” Fitz snapped.

Jemma faltered. In all the bickering they had ever done he’d never sounded angry with her. The new tone in his voice rattled her. In a last attempt to sway him she pulled out the only card she had left. “Were supposed to be partners Fitz, how are we supposed to work together if you’re not with me, how are we supposed to be Fitzsimmons?”

“You could stay here with me!”

“I can’t stay here Fitz!” She shouted, finally losing her own temper, matching his in ferocity.

“Well I can’t go!”

Jemma released his sleeve and clenched her fists at her sides. Why was he being so stubborn? “FINE!” When she felt tears pricking at her eyes she squeezed them shut tightly. It hurt so much that he wouldn’t come with her and in her distress all she wanted was to make him feel the same. “Here take this back, I don’t want it.” She unclasped the watch he had made for her and threw it at him, hard. He made an attempt to catch it but fumbled and dropped it to the ground.

She didn’t wait to see if it survived unscathed. Her cab was waiting so she turned away, gave directions to the driver, climbed into the back and slammed the door shut before Fitz could utter another word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> age jump next chapter, hopefully everyone is excited.


	5. An Explaination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma wakes up to find herself 28 years old and without recollection of how she ended up that way.

The cab hit a curb and startled Jemma awake. Fighting through the disorientation of waking up in an unfamiliar place she reached blindly for her purse to make sure it was still there and glanced out the window to make sure she hadn’t missed her stop. How strange, she thought. She wasn’t one to nap, especially not in a public place.

instinctively she looked for the time.

No watch. Of course not she had heaved it at Fitz out of frustration. Frustration her nap must have subdued as she was suddenly overwhelmed with guilt. Fitz had worked so hard on it, what if she had damaged it in her fit.

She knew she shouldn’t have yelled at Fitz. He had every right to stay where he wanted to be but it never occurred to her that that might be a different place from where she wanted to be too. Once they started at SciTech Academy she’d never imagined them being separated again. Not that they were going to be that far apart, SHIELD was only a couple blocks away, they could still have lunch together. Maybe get an apartment in between the two buildings. No reason to keep living in the dorms if they weren’t students.

Having reasoned away her upsetting thoughts she worked her way back to worrying over her interview. “Sir, are we almost there?” She asked, sitting forward in her seat.

“Sir?” Snapped the woman driving the cab.

Jemma gasped. “Oh my, I’m so sorry Ma’am, I didn’t realize.” She could have sworn it was a man who had picked her up at SciTech, but she had been preoccupied at the time. “I didn’t mean any offense miss, I’m-I think I must be a bit out of it today.” She sat back in her seat, still horrified by her mistake. She reached for her bag again to have something to fiddle with and found herself holding one she didn’t recognize.

A sleek, black leather purse.

She didn’t own a black leather purse.

“Miss, I think someone has left their purse behind,” she called to the driver while searching for her own. There was no sign of her bag next to her or on the floor. She frantically checked again with no luck, her wallet, her phone, her disc with all the research she was going to share with Dr. Weaver was gone.

“Can’t be, you’re my first pick-up today.” The driver called back.

Can’t be? Well Jemma was sure she knew what her own purse looked like.

Opening the bag Jemma hesitantly began poking around for identification. She managed to find a wallet buried underneath a rolled up science journal, a small make up compact, and a device that resembled the developmental touch screen controllers Fitz sometimes worked with. She may not have known who the bag belonged too but she thought it might be nice to meet her. She had great taste and was obviously very intelligent. Except for leaving her bag behind of course, but that could happen to anyone really.

She popped open the wallet, hoping there was some cash so that she could pay the driver. She could always pay back the unknown woman.

It took a few tries to extract the right card and when she did finally manage to get her hands on the right one she was shocked to see her own picture looking up at her from the driver’s license.

Her eyes raced over the words next to the picture.

_Jemma E. Simmons_  
Birthdate: 09/11/87  
Eyes: Bro  
Hair: Bro  
Height: 5’ 3”

Her whole head felt fuzzy. She didn’t have a driver’s license yet, she hadn’t even gotten her learner’s permit.

The issue date didn’t clear anything up either.

_Issued: 03/15/08  
Expires: 09/11/17_

Fitz must have been playing some sort of prank on her. Was it his turn? No he had just tried to get her by sneaking up on her wearing a gas mask. Of course it hadn’t worked. This was probably just a second attempt, she decided. She flipped the card over in her hand to inspect it. It didn’t even look official, well as far as she knew. There was a lot of detail in it though. And how had he managed to make her look older in her picture.

Deciding this was the only explanation she reached back into the bag for the strange electronic device and the journal, dated June 2016. He was amazingly thorough but what he was trying to accomplish she had no idea. Was this to mock her for wanting to be older?

She swiped a finger over the touch screen device and watched with amazement as it sprang to life. Fitz had never shown her anything this advanced. A lock screen appeared. She keyed in the number of her birthday. It seemed like a logical password for Fitz to set for her. When nothing happened she tried his. Still nothing. She stared down at the screen trying to think of another number combination. In the delay the screen went black. Her reflection stared back at her and Jemma squinted at it. She looked a bit odd. She reached back into the purse and pulled out the compact mirror. When she looked at the clearer reflection she squeaked and dropped it. It rolled under the seats as she sat frozen in her spot.

No that was most definitely not right.

She reached down to the floor trying to grasp the mirror. She could feel short strands of hair brushing her shoulders and her heart beat picked up. Fingers closing around the mirror she sat back with the mirror face down in her lap for a minute before raising it in front of her. Staring back at her was her, but also not her.

“I-I-what?” She gasped out.

She looked older, maybe in her mid to late-twenties. Her hair was short just barely brushing her shoulders. Just like in the driver’s license photo.

She reached for the card again, re-reading all the information.

Her heart continued to thunder fiercely in his chest. This was crazy. How did you even explain this? Coma, amnesia, maybe she’s been drugged and she was hallucinating.

Caught up in her panic and trying to calm her breathing she didn’t notice the cab had pulled over. She had apparently reached her destination. Where ever that may be.

“Are you getting out, I don’t get paid if the car isn’t in route?”

Still uneasy she replied. “S-sorry, I uh-how much do I owe you.” The driver tapped her finger on the meter which Jemma realized looked far too advanced for something in an old cab. She reached into the wallet and pulled out the exact amount plus a tip and thrust it at the woman before cramming everything back into the bag, her bag, and stumbling out on to the side walk.

She turned around a few times on the spot trying to figure out where she was. To her surprise she was standing outside SHIELD. But that was hardly what kept her attention. All around her people were hurrying past. Their clothes seemed odd, their vocabulary unfamiliar and many held up devices like the one in her bag to their ears or out in front of them and she quickly came to the conclusion that they were phones.

Maybe she could use hers to call Fitz or her parents; if she could get the bloody thing unlocked.

Please let this be an elaborate prank, Jemma thought. A large man with his eyes on his phone nearly bowled her over. She took cover, pressed as closely to the wall of the building as she could get.

“Simmons!”

She turned her head from side to side searching for the source of her name. A woman in a floral print dress was climbing out of a taxi and flagging her down. She had a phone tucked between her ear and shoulder, slightly obscured by her dark curly hair.

Jemma had never seen the woman before in her life.

That being said the woman knew who she was and for now that was something.

The stranger lowered the phone at her ear, covering the mouth piece and hissing at her, “what are you doing out here, the meeting starts in five minutes!”

“Me-meeting?”

The woman looked back at her skeptically. “I’ll call you back.” She said into the phone. “The meeting about the Quinn Gala this evening, projects to discuss, topics to avoid, who SHIELD wants us to schmooze and who need to be put in their place, you didn’t forget did you?” SHIELD? SHIELD she was planning to interview with? SHIELD who she worked for and went to meetings for? She looked up the front of the massive building. A wave of nausea hit her and she tried to not obviously hyperventilate. “Simmons?”

“No oh-of course not, just needed some fresh air.” Jemma choked out.

She wanted to scream. She wasn’t entirely sure she wasn’t already screaming. There was a ringing in her head like maybe she was but no one on the sidewalk was looking at her except the girl in the flower dress. She was looking at her uncertainly though she didn’t look alarmed.

Probably not screaming then.

“Alright.” She shrugged. She walked past Jemma and into the building.  Jemma awkwardly shuffled in behind her, her eyes taking in the SHIELD lobby and its occupants. Not a single familiar face in the crowd, just lots of men and women in suits.

“Good Morning Raina, Dr. Simmons.” A man said to them as they stopped in front of a pair of elevators. Raina seemed to suit her companion but how did this man know her name. Raina nodded at the man and Jemma, trying to remain calm went for a cheery good morning in return only to have the man look taken back. Raina gave her another odd look but brushed it off when the elevator doors slid open. When they stepped inside two beeps went off in quick succession.

The ride, to the 7th floor according to the screen on the elevator wall, was quiet. Raina fussed around with her phone while Jemma stood beside her wondering if she may spontaneously combust. The probability of that ever happening was minuscule but at this point she wasn’t ruling anything out. She tried running through all the logical reasons she was standing there twice as old as she had been that morning. Amnesia was plausible. It was the best way to explain huge missing chucks of memory.

Her eyes suddenly stung with tears. Thirteen years of memories just missing. She didn’t want to think about that much of her life just disappearing.

Besides amnesia didn’t usually take you back to an exact moment in your life. Granted she was not an expert on the matter. Also amnesia was usually caused by a head injury and no one around her acted the slightest bit concerned. Why would she be expected at work, at a meeting, at a gala of all things if she was walking around with her brain scrambled.

Unless they didn’t know.

Another beep emitted from the elevator as it came to a stop. Still at a loss for what to do she followed Raina out without any hesitation and the girl didn’t object.

“So on top of everything else we’re not supposed to talk about I think it’s best if we keep the project we’ve been working quiet as well, I know the gala is all about the grant that may be funding the project in the very near future but we don’t want Cybertek getting hold of another one of our formulas.” Raina said as they entered a large conference room. She tucked away her phone as they took their seats.

“Our formula was stolen?!” Jemma felt a surge of anger even though she had no idea what the formula was even for.

Raina narrowed her eyes at her and Jemma thought the woman had an odd sort of eeriness about her. Something about her eyes, they were unsettling. Which was ridiculous to even point out when she was sitting in a conference room for a company she supposedly worked for, chatting with a woman who knew her but she didn’t know in return and was suddenly in her late twenties.

“Yes, that’s the reason for this meeting.” She finally replied. “SHIELD’s work is kept in high security so they take leaks very seriously.”

Jemma wanted to ask what it was that was stolen. Assuming she was still a biochemist it could be any number of things. Including highly dangerous serums, chemical compounds and toxins. SHIELD was big on weapons, Fitz had told her so just yesterday or what she thought was yesterday. It was so clear in her mind, how could it not have been?

More people poured into the conference room and Jemma’s did a double take when she saw Dr. Weaver, the first person she’d recognized since waking up in the cab; thankfully time hadn’t aged the woman too dramatically. Dr. Weaver did not take a seat but instead stood at the head of the room alongside four others.

“Good morning everyone,” she started and the room quieted instantly. “As I am sure you all remember we are here to go over tonight’s event, what topics to discuss and what topics should be avoided.”

Mandatory topics? Jemma thought. That seemed a bit strict for a gathering of scientists. How could they be expected to get together and not, well, talk science?

“Since Cybertek got hold of our formula for the enhancement serum and was able to create a delivery system for it faster than we were, we want to be sure they do not get any more assistance from us so all high level projects are off limits and if you have any prospective projects we suggest you keep those under wraps except for around the grant committee.”

It was secretive, more secretive than Jemma cared to be but if the company had information stolen from them she supposed airing on the side of caution was reasonable.

“Please also keep in mind that it is a formal event not semi-formal, not business casual.” Jemma noticed Dr. Weaver eyes lingered longer on some of the room’s occupants including her.

“Now while I have you all here I’ve asked our representatives from our four largest departments to meet with you and talk about what sort of resources are being requested, for those of you who are unfamiliar we have Phil Coulson who handles weapons, Melinda May with transportation, Antione Triplett with medical and Barbara Morse with stealth.”

Jemma’s ears perked up. This was an opportune chance to sneak away. She could excuse herself to restroom while each rep discussed ideas for future projects and everyone would be so enthralled they wouldn’t notice her exit. She could find a nice secluded bathroom have a minor panic attack and then take a cab to the hospital where someone could hopefully tell her exactly what was going on.

Yep, that was the plan.


	6. Social Grace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 28 year old Jemma still has the Social Grace of her 15 year old self.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little delayed in posting this chapter; had to spend my days off from work on vacation with my family. I love them but there is nothing relaxing about traveling with them.

Unfortunately for Jemma she could plan all she wanted and sometimes things still didn’t work out. Rather than standing at the head of the room and taking turns speaking the four representatives dispersed themselves throughout the crowded space and before she could get away Barbara Morse and Antoine Triplett, as Weaver had introduced them, appeared next to her and Raina.

“So Trip tells me you two were working on revamping the super solider serum, it’s a shame Cybertek beat us to it.” The tall blonde woman said as she took a seat on Jemma’s right. Trip, short for Triplett she assumed, stood behind her.

Hearing the term super solider serum caught her interest, distracting her from her escape plans. She recalled from her history classes what many people considered a myth. Around WWII a serum was developed by a Dr. Erskine that could increase muscle growth and stamina. There was record of one successful case in which a solider by the name of Steve Rogers had actually seen his heath improve, increased endurance, heightened eye sight, cured of asthma; the case had fascinated her. There was only scrapes of the formula and Steve Rogers was lost when a plane went down so there was no way to even replicate the serum using his blood.

“They didn’t beat us to it, they got their hands on our formula.” Raina said, irritation lacing her voice. “And because they have at least one competent engineer on staff they were able to create a delivery mechanism before we even had schematics drawn up.”

“You don’t have an engineer?” Morse asked.

Jemma’s mind jumped to Fitz and she had her ‘Fitz is the best engineer anyone could work with speech’ ready to go but Raina was already answering. “No, and SHIELD doesn’t employ a single one that has any clue what they’re doing.”

“I heard that Stark snatches up all the good ones for his company.” Triplett added, looking to Bobbi for confirmation. She nodded back. “I have a good friend who works over there.”

“You should talk him into quitting and joining us.” Raina sounded completely serious but those close enough to them to hear laughed loudly. Jemma gave a quick half laugh but she wasn’t really with them. She was having trouble grasping the idea that she and Fitz didn’t work together. Of course he had refused to come to the interview but that was because he wasn’t ready to move on to a more serious career. But ten years later, surely he wasn’t still working at SciTech.

“I thought Mack worked in mechanics?” Triplett asked as he leaned against the back of her chair, returning her thoughts to the conversation.

“Oh he does, prefers to work on the bigger machines, May would snatch him up in a second but he’s adapts well so Stark keeps a tight hold on him.” Morse explained. Jemma watched the woman twirl a pen between her fingers with great dexterity. “Anyways this is not what we’re supposed to be discussing, what new and innovative and what’s going to get s that grant money from Quinn Worldwide, that is the priority.” Jemma thought she was lacking a lot of enthusiasm for someone trying to procure money for science.

“Kind of pointless for us to bother of course, Coulson already has dibs on the two of you.”

Oh. Coulson with the weaponry department. Jemma wasn’t sure she even knew how to design a weapon. Ways to effectively hurt people wasn’t her area of expertise. “That’s right, he’s crazy about the last project you did for him, The Destroyer. He was just telling me that he kept one for his own personal collection, calls it Bambino.” Triplett laughed. For a moment Jemma was distracted. He had a wonderful smile and was standing very close.

She looked down at the table. She had to focus on more important matters. Her memory issues being at the very top of the list.

“Did you read that article in Science Go, they think they’ve discovered a new element?” Raina asked, opening a new topic of conversation.

A new element. Jemma sat up straighter in the chair. She could wait a minute longer before sneaking out of the room, it would have been rude to leave in the middle of a conversion. She listened intently as they discussed the birth of the element and the scientist credited to it, a name she didn’t recognize. When they began to discuss applications of the element to their fields Jemma became lost. They were speaking in science terms but the methods they suggested were revolutionary to her, a fact that quite frankly left her more frightened then she changes to her own face. She stopped herself three times from asking how certain suggestions they had made were even a possibility.

Jemma was suddenly consumed by panic. Her brain had tried to process and work out the plausibility of what they were suggesting and while it shouldn’t have been more overwhelming to not understand the science then it was to experience and age jump and memory loss that was the breaking point for her. Her breathing picked up becoming sporadic.

“Excuse me.” She climbed unsteadily out of her chair. Triplett helped her safely to her feet. “Thank you.”

“Are you alright?” Bobbi called after her.

She didn’t reply. She ran out into the hall, looking left and right for a restroom.

_Breathe slowly Jemma, in and out, slowly._ She couldn’t have a panic attack in the middle of the prestigious research facility. Although if she was such a coveted scientist perhaps she had a prestigious research lab where she could hide away and have her panic attack.

“Jemma!”

Okay no time for that. She slowed down to look for who called her name. She hadn’t realized her search for privacy had become something of a sprint. Triplett appeared next to her, having caught up in just a few long strides. He placed a hand on the small of her back and she stumbled forward away from his touch.

She looked at him skeptically. Her dousing of suspicion cleared up her panic quickly. Jemma had had enough men twice her age hit on her to be distrustful.

“Are you alright, you left the room in a hurry, thought you might be sick.”

So his intentions weren’t dubious.

“I’m fine, I just needed to stretch my legs.”

“Okay, good, I thought you might be getting sick,” his tone was surprisingly genuine, “I was hoping that wasn’t the case, I didn’t want it to interfere with our dinner on Tuesday.”

Jemma must have heard wrong. “Huh?”

“Come’ on girl, don’t do that to me, it took me two weeks to get you to agree.” He smiled down at her and she was struck by just how handsome he was. So much so her cheeks flushed and not in the same way they normally did when a man ten plus years older than her hit on her. She had almost no desire to slap him across the face. His nice, symmetrical face.

Why on earth would he want dinner with her though? The implications made it creepy. “Why would you want to go to dinner with me?”

“Why wouldn’t I want to go to dinner with a beautiful intelligent woman?” Woman?  Oh right.  He had asked twenty something year old Jemma out, not fifteen year old Jemma. He wasn’t being creepy but she was sure as hell probably coming off like a weirdo.

“Oh, uh, thank you,” she replied. He seemed amused by her confusion but didn’t try to make her uncomfortable. A good thing too considering she was already so far outside her comfort zone she’d get to the sun faster than she’d get back to a conversation where she didn’t stutter. She’d never been asked on a date before. She wondered if the flipping in her stomach was standard. Jemma had never thought her first date would be with a man nearly twice her age but he seemed nice enough. How could she pass it up? “Yes uh dinner sounds nice.”

“Great!” Oh there was his nice smile again.

“Yep.”

What did she do now? That had been a nice distraction from her current predicament but now she really had bigger worries. He was still looking at her as though he was expecting something. What was the proper etiquette in this situation? Was he waiting for a hug, a kiss on the cheek?

No she couldn’t do that, she didn’t even know him.

“This is your lab right?”

Oh. She hadn’t even realized they were standing in front of a lab. A little place card with a list of names hung next to the door and hers was at the very top. “Of course, yes, I guess I’d better get to work than, brain storming ideas and such.”  God she sounded awkward. And to top it off he was still looking at her. She jabbed her hand out in front of her thinking a hand shake might be acceptable. “I look forward to dinner.” She said. He cast another amused look her way, this time between her hand and eyes.

“Me too, I’ll text you the details.” He took her hand with both of his and gave it an odd little shake before turning to walk back down the hallway. He was out of sight before she remembered she couldn’t use her phone and out of hearing distance when she called out to him. “Wait I can’t-“

The residents of the hallway shot her strange looks and Jemma dunked into the lab to avoid their stares.

The lab was empty. So much relief poured out of her she had to lean back against the closed door just to support herself. Now would have been the time to panic but one look around the lab left her breathless for a completely different reason. The lab was impeccable. All advanced tech a clean glass vials filled with brightly colored chemicals reflecting the florescent lights. Lack of personal touches mad it difficult to find her work space, but she did come across a note pad with her handwriting across it and a size small lab coat draped over a stool. She figured she was probably in the right place.

Her fingers were itching to get a hold of the chemicals in front of her. There were at least two she was not familiar with and three she’d heard of but never worked with first hand, but now was no time for science unless it could explain what was going on in her head.

And she thought she already had a plan to figure that out. Something Barbara Morse had said had stuck with her, about Stark snatching up brilliant engineers. If she needed to know what was going on in her head Fitz was sure to know what had happened. And if Stark had all the best engineers well then she knew exactly where to find him.

Now she just needed to find STARK Industries.

Miraculously the computer at her station didn’t require a password to enter and opened up to a web browser. She managed to pull up a search engine and typed in ‘STARK Industries.’ She clicked the first link that came up and was redirected in less than a second to a new page. The website was more advanced than any she’s ever seen and more importantly it was easy to navigate. Jemma located the address and was given a box to input her current location for directions. She was elated to find out that their R&D center was just a thirty minute walk from where she was. Literally the map gave her options of walking, driving, bus and even bike to get there from her exact location, even taking into account current traffic. It was fascinating.

She continued to search hoping for an employee list. No luck. She returned to the page she received the address on and jotted down a number that probably led to a reception desk. Maybe someone there could help. If only she had a way to call that number. She pulled out the phone from her bag and tried a few more number combinations to unlock it, none of which let her in.

Frustrated Jemma sat the phone down and began to click around the STARK website. They had multiple divisions just like SHIELD did, everything from robotics to energy conservation, notably absent was weapons development. She clicked on the Robotics link. There was general information on different successful projects without too many details.

Down towards the end of the page a Robotics for Kids section grabbed her attention. According to the blurb beneath it STARK Industries produced a line of robotic animal companions that encouraged kids to learn about science and technology. Everything from a lion to a dolphin and even a monkey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we are slowly making are way to the new chapters rather than the reposts. I'm super excited because I think it really starts to pick up there.


	7. Art Education

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma heads to STARK Tower with hopes of finding Fitz. In her search she encounters fussy new tech and a kind new companion.

STARK Tower, home of STARK Industries, was an architectural marvel. Jemma looked up the side of the building, craning her neck until it hurt. She hoped that on one of those many floors Fitz was tucked away in a lab building little robotic monkeys.

She stepped into the building and suddenly her eyes were everywhere, bouncing from one place to another before she could really take anything in. There were people hurrying in every direction, flashy high tech screens shared wall space with magnificent art pieces. Stretched down the center of the massive lobby were tall contemporary sculptures and Jemma made a mental note to get a closer look at a hanging art installation that drew her eyes up to the high ceilings.

At the moment however she was more concerned with finding a reception desk. She didn’t see anything that resembled one, nor a kind receptionist offering to assist her. Off to the left there was a slanted counter like fixture with a few screens built in to it. From her spot, blocking the entrance yes she was well aware without the glares she received, she could see the word Welcome.

Jemma hurried over and with a closer look she saw the words _‘how can we help you?’_ and _‘appointment’ ‘no appointment’_ on the screen.

She tapped the _‘no appointment’_ option.

_Who are you here to see?_

_Management_

_Lab Employee_

_Maintenance_

_Security_

_*Tony Stark is unavailable at all times. You may not set up an appointment with him although he can set one up with you should he choose too. You can request an appointment with company CEO Pepper Potts._

Well some things haven’t changed in thirteen years, Jemma though amused, recalling Tony Stark's reputation before tapping the Lab Employee option. That seemed most likely for Fitz.

_Select a Department Please._

She wavered. There were around ten or twelve options to choose from. She supposed she could rule out certain options due to Fitz squeamishness. But still a number of categorizes still applied to his skills, robotics, transportation, communication. She could start with one and always go back. She selected the first option on the list and was given a new question.

_Which Lab?_

Well how was she supposed to know? Jemma jabbed at the first option again. A number of names she didn’t recognize appeared. This was going to take forever. She looked for a return option but could not find one. There was also no main menu option.

Jemma scoffed. Stark was supposed to be an innovator in technology and he couldn’t remember to install a simple ‘go back’ button.

“Please select a name.” A computerized voice broke into her scrutinizing thoughts.

Jemma analyzed the machine quickly. Maybe it would respond to voice control. “He’s not listed, go back.”

“Please select a name.” It prompted a second time.

“Not listed, go back please.”

“Please select a name.”

“I cannot select a name that is not there.” She reasoned.

“Seleccione un nombre, por favor.”

Jemma was so startled by the switch to Spanish she stumbled through a reply. “I understand, but the person I am looking for is not listed.”

The machine was quiet for a long moment. “You have not selected a name of a person you wish to speak to, are you unsure who to speak to?”

A _‘yes’_ and _‘no’_ option appeared in the place of the list of names.

Jemma rolled her eyes, of course she knew who she wanted to speak to. She tapped the ‘no’ button realizing a second to late that it would return to –

“Please select a name.”

Jemma groaned.

“Seleccione un nombre, por favor.”

Fed up, Jemma walked away. Maybe if she just browsed the lobby someone would realize she was out of place and ask if she needed help. Maybe by some miracle Fitz would just pass by. Or maybe she’d be tossed out on the sidewalk for loitering. Any of those options was more appealing than continuing to fight with the welcome screen.

Her feet carried her over to the hanging art piece that was still calling to her. Shards of blue tinted glass hung from the ceiling, each tied on its own individual string and all at varying heights. From a distance it created a spherical shape but up close she could see where some pieces hung clumped together and others all alone. It could have been random but she imagined with as much detail as there was it was intentional. After a few minutes of taking it in she still couldn’t decide what it was. There wasn’t even an information tablet to tell her.

“It was commissioned for the building by Mr. Stark.” A tall woman dressed in an expensive business appropriate dress appeared next to her.

“It’s incredible.” Jemma replied. “To bounce the light the way it does, the angles they have hung it at must be so precise.”

The woman nodded. “Inspired by the new element he discovered, he’s very proud of it, saved his life actually.”

“A new element?” She was up to what, three or four of those.

“Yes the shape was inspired by the mo—“

“By the molecular structure, of course.” Jemma jumped in, finally understanding why it felt familiar.

Her companion nodded again. “Well I’m glad you understand, the science of it is not my area of expertise but the art and how its created, I could go on for hours.”

Jemma smiled. She certainly knew how easy it was to babble on about a subject you loved and how great it was to have someone listen with genuine interest. “Art isn’t my expertise but I’m happy to learn, could you tell me about some of the other pieces, there is one over there I’m particularly fond of.”

The redheaded woman looked elated by the prospect. She gestured for Jemma to lead the way to each of her favorites and explained them in great detail, then changed trajectory and showed her a few of her own favorites. There was one, a large canvas of simple brushstrokes that made it look as endless as space that instantly became her favorite. When she turned to tell the woman it occurred to her she hadn’t learned the name of the art enthusiast.

“Pepper Potts.” She provided with the extension of her hand.

“Jemma Simmons.” As she was shaking Pepper’s hand the name registered in her brain. “Wait, Pepper Potts? CEO Pepper Potts?”

“That’s me.” Pepper said calmly.

“Wow, well it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Jemma couldn’t believe the CEO of Stark industries had taken the time to talk to her, she must have been so busy. “Thank you for telling me about the art, you didn’t have to, I’m sure you have more important things to do.”

Pepper was already shaking her head. “Trust me I did not mind, the collection is more mine than it is Tony’s.” She said with a wave of her hand to indicate the lobby full of art. “Besides you seem innocent enough, I didn’t want security hounding you for identification.”

Jemma brushed off the unusual comment. “Well thank you really, the art is beautiful.”

Pepper nodded. She continued to look at Jemma expectantly and it hit her that she probably found it strange that a young, no so young she reminded, woman was standing in her lobby. “I’m looking for someone.” She announced and blushed at how ridiculous she must sound.

“Ah, well perhaps I can help you find them, I try to at least put a name to a face for the employees.”

“His name is Leo Fitz, well Dr. Leopold Fitz actually.” Jemma is prepared to delve into a detailed description of her curly haired, blue eyed, not particularly tall best friend but recognition followed by actual joy flitted across Pepper’s eyes.

“Oh Fitz!” She exclaimed loudly. “Well than you must be, oh well he’s mentioned you but never by name.” Pepper gave her an appraising once over before nodding subtly as if in approval. “You certainly exceeded all of my expectations.”

Jemma was a bit alarmed by her reaction. The idea that Fitz has spoken about her to the CEO of the company made her stomach flutter. Nervous to live up to some unknown expectations no doubt. She hoped she hadn’t already embarrassed him, with her incompetence over the welcome screen.

“I’ll go get him for you, you can wait in one of the conference rooms, much cozier than the labs.” Pepper said cheerily, a new sparkle in her eye.

“That would be wonderful, thank you so much.”

Pepper led her to an empty conference room just one floor up and hurried off to collect Fitz. Jemma was too antsy to sit down. In the seclusion of a room with no distractions she was able to dwell once more on the important matter at hand.

She wasn’t fifteen.

She was twenty-eight.

And she couldn’t remember anything in between.

The only logical conclusion was a head injury and she was having a relapse. All of her memories were just being blocked in her head and would probably come back to her with time and the correct stimulus. Like Fitz, he would certainly jog her memory.

“She’s right in here.” That was Pepper’s voice, Jemma recognized through the closed door. The woman sounded almost giddy.

“Alright, I believe you okay.” And that was Fitz’s voice. The amusement in his tone was warm and wonderfully familiar which should have been soothing but really just put her more on edge. It was a good thing she hadn’t sat down, she would have fallen off the seat already.

The approaching pair entered the room.

Jemma felt her jaw drop.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pepper is one of my very favorite characters in the MCU and I was super excited to incorporate her. She'll be making a few appearances throughout the story and I think they are some of the best parts.


	8. A Familiar Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma gets caught up on some of what she's missed and she doesn't take the news well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And finally she finds Fitz and gets some answers which means we are hopefully picking up the pace, I say hopefully.

He was there and he was Fitz but he was different. Taller, taller than her now anyways, they used to be just about the same height. His shoulders were broader and arms and torso not so skinny. His hair was shorter but still tried to curl at the ends; he wasn’t as blonde as he used to be. But she knew it was him, she had heard him speak and his eyes hadn’t changed. They were still as blue as ever, even from all the way across the room.

Fitz finally looked away from Pepper and Jemma watched his entire body freeze when he spotted her. His foot had halted mid step, his words mid-sentence and his hand mid-gesture hung in the air as he stared at her like he’d seen a ghost.

“Jemma.”

“Fitz!” She would be embarrassed later for running across the room at him like a child greeting a relative they hadn’t seen for years. She threw her arms tightly around his neck and he stood awkwardly in her embrace, eventually bringing a hand up to pat her back.

“I’ll just leave you two alone then.” Pepper announced and scooted out of the room.

Jemma pulled away, her hands still on his shoulders, fingers twisting into the fabric of his shirt.

He stared down at her uncertainly. “Jemma, is it really you?”

“Who else would it be?” Of course she barely recognized herself today.

He stared at her nearly a full minute. She didn’t exactly mind; she was just staring back at him just as intently but at least she had a smile on her face. He looked, kind of green actually.

“I wasn’t expecting, Pepper said, well she must have mistaken you for – never mind, what are you doing here?” He finally asked after a string of incomplete thoughts.

Jemma took in a deep breath and released it slowly. She wanted to explain this calmly and rationally. “I’m missing thirteen years of my life.” Perhaps that hadn’t been the best way to start. Fitz looked more confused than when he first spotted her. “I mean I seem to have forgotten thirteen years of my life, this morning I fell asleep on the way to my interview—except it wasn’t my interview it was on my way to a meeting at work but when I fell asleep I was just fifteen and when I woke up I was twenty-eight, and I really thought you were playing some sort of prank on me until I looked at my reflection, I mean you’re good but you’re not—well anyways I can’t remember anything and I don’t know why.”

Fitz’s confusion was replaced with concern or maybe fear? His eyes had widened during her explanation and he was clearly at a loss for words.

“I know it sounds crazy.”

“I think you’ve been breathing in too many chemicals Jemma, you remember to wear your mask right, when working with the dangerous ones?” He moved one hand under her elbow and the other to her back as he directed her to a chair.

Jemma took her turn to sound incredulous. “I would never disregard lab safety Fitz, how you could even suggest such a thing,” she trailed off. He had gotten her into a chair and then quickly distanced himself from her.

“Of course, perhaps a head injury then?” A panic began to grow in Jemma stomach. She came to Fitz believing he would know what was wrong.

“I don’t know, that’s why I’m here asking you!” She shifted in her seat, her whole body was going tense. “No one is treating me like anything is wrong, I thought maybe they didn’t know but, but you might?” She finished hopefully.

Fitz shook his head, less as answer to her question than to organize his own thoughts. “Jemma we don’t even work together anymore, how would I know?”

“Well don’t think that didn’t surprise me but your still my best friend Fitz.” He didn’t say anything. His own body had gone tense to and his hands wringed together nervously. “What?”

He shook his head again.

“What?” Why did he look more distressed than she did? She was the one missing nearly half her life. “What’s wrong Fitz?”

“Jemma, we’re not friends anymore.”

Everything went quiet after that. She couldn’t hear the noise from the street outside, or the noise from the air conditioner that was chilling the sweat that had broken out over her and giving her goosebumps. She could hear the thump of Fitz’s shoes as he shuffled uncertainly in front of her.

And then she could hear again but only the rush of blood in her ears and her breathing coming faster and more sporadic, drowning out her minds helpless attempts to reason out the situation. She couldn’t even form questions or demand an explanation. The one bit of normalcy she had been relying on had just been ripped away from her.

“I-I can get you something?” Fitz said, more of a tentative question than a statement of fact. “Some water or uh, we’ve got these therapeutic stress balls around.” He fussed around the room but she barely noticed with her head lowered between her knees as she tried not to throw up.

A bin was placed at her feet he kneeled in front of her trying to push the items into her hands. They shook too much to open the water. She urgently shoved it back at him to open and gripped the stress ball until her knuckles were white. With a few sips of water down her dry throat she managed to get out half a sentence. “I don’t understand, how could we not—“ She leaned back over the bucket. It didn’t make any sense. Sure the last thing she remembered was being angry with him but not irreparable friendship angry.

His hand reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear to protect it from any regurgitation. “It wasn’t anything in particular, we just lost touch after you accepted the offer with SHIELD.” Fitz explained. “I think you should call your parents, it’s just early evening over there, I’m sure one of them can tell you what’s going on.”

Her parents. What did it mean that her first thought was to go to Fitz and not her parents? She couldn’t worry about that right now. He had something else troubling, probably without realizing it.

“Over where?” She asked.

“Oh, well over there, England.” He clarified.

More nausea hit her and she hung her head back over the can. “When did they move back?”

Fitz hesitated and Jemma was sure he was trying to choose his words more carefully than with his last big reveal. “Shortly after you started at SHIELD.”

Jemma started to shake her head but her body rejected the motion. “They would never leave, they thought I was too young to live on my own.”

“I heard you put up a very convincing argument.”

Jemma couldn’t think of a single thing she could have said to get through to her parents. She had tried numerous times to make them see she would be fine on her own with no luck. It wasn’t that they were over baring just a little coddling. And Jemma only wanted them to be happy, they really didn’t enjoy the states.

Oh why couldn’t she remember anything.

“You need to go home and lie down, you don’t look like you’ve suffered a head injury but it could be a relapse from an old one, or even a lab accident.” He took the water bottle from her and stood up.

Jemma didn’t follow. She couldn’t go home. “I don’t know—I don’t even know where to go.”

“It’s probably on your license, I can, well may I?” He pointed at her bag on the large conference table. She nodded. She listened to him fish around for the information he needed until he exclaimed positively that he knew exactly where to do and could take her there if she needed him to.

She only nodded again. “Do you need another minute?” When she still didn’t make move to stand.

“No, I’m okay.” She stood up, definitely unsteady and obviously so because Fitz stepped forward to take her arm again.

“Tell me what happened again, maybe it will help.” He suggested and so she did. She started at the beginning when she woke up and finished in the conference room. How she had fallen asleep fifteen years old and woken up older and disoriented. How everyone knew who she was but she didn’t recognize any of them, Dr. Weaver aside.

They passed through the STARK lobby and Jemma stopped talking when she saw Pepper across the room and gave her a little wave. She waved back and Jemma thought she saw her wink.

“It’s unusual,” Jemma said, “Ms. Potts acted like she knew who I was but you said we weren’t friends anymore.”

Fitz was looking anywhere but in Pepper’s direction. “She just mistook you for someone else.” Jemma was about to ask who when he cut her off. “What about before you fell asleep, what do you remember?”

“I told you I was on my way to my interview with SHIELD, could there have been a car accident do you think, maybe I have trouble maintaining memories that took place after.” Jemma squeezed his arm tightly as the reasoning. Yes, it was convoluted but not entirely impossible.

Unfortunately, Fitz was shaking his head. “No, you made it to the interview.”

“Oh.”

“Anything before that?”

She hadn’t thought to go back farther than that morning. She tried to consider the new angle. It wasn’t hard to think back farther considering it was just yesterday in her mind. But nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. They worked on a few projects, nothing dangerous, they had gone to the zoo two or three times that week, she had complained about being young more than she usually did but that was the closest thing she had to connection. “Nothing important. She conceded.

As they walked she moved to rest her head on his shoulder, her hands still rested at his elbow and in the back of her mind if occurred to her that he no longer considered them best friends and it may be weird for him but to her they were and she couldn’t let that go.

She also couldn’t help but think it was nice that he’s a bit taller than her now because he was just the perfect height to rest her head on his shoulder. It used to be very uncomfortable to fall asleep against him, his boney elbow poking her in the side. But now his arm wasn’t so lanky and his wrist was certainly not the same size as hers anymore.

Her mind pulled a one eighty and all she could think about was how desperately she wanted her watch back. It was stupid really considering the seriousness of her situation but she didn’t care. It was such a beautiful, thoughtful gift. So much so she put aside her disbelief in storybook magic to make a wish.

A wish to be older…

No. That would be completely ridiculous. She wouldn’t even allow herself to consider it. This, whatever this was, was not the result of a wish. “Fitz, do you remember, it was a couple days before I made a um, a wish to be older?”

“You always wanted to be older.” He said, giving her something of a smile. The first real one she’d gotten from him so far.

“Yes, but this was an actual wish, you made me make it at 11:11.” She reminded him tentatively. It was completely illogical.

Some recollection of the even appeared on his face and he looked down at her. “You- you don’t actually think it came true do you?” He sounded on the verge of flaggy down a ca to cart her off to the hospital.

“NO! Oh no, no of course not.” She insisted her cheeks becoming redder by the second. “It’s just a funny coincidence.” She couldn’t believe she actually suggested that a wish was the cause for her predicament.

“Right,” He didn’t sound like he found it the slightest bit funny. “This is you.” He tilted his head towards the building they’d stopped in front of. It was a nice building, tall and old with nice architectural details. It looked clean and well kept, with neat trimmed potted shrubs flanking the door that read The Griffith across the glass.

She eventually dropped Fitz’s arm but didn’t move away yet. He wasn’t showing any signs of leaving either.

“You should see if you can figure out who your regular physician is, they may have records or something.” He suggested. “And- let me know when you do find out okay.” He pulled a cell phone from his back pocket and held it out to her. She looked at him trying to determine what he wanted her to do. “You don’t know your phone number, okay.” He patted down his pockets until he found a pen and some scrap paper. Thirteen years and some things would never change. “Here.”

She read over the numbers carefully, committing them to memory. “Thanks, I will.”

She shifted. She didn’t want to leave his side just yet. The Griffith was suddenly ominous. Walking through the doors would be like accepting her fate, one she still didn’t fully understand. “Are you going to the gala tonight, the one Quinn Worldwide is hosting?”

Fitz frowned. “I don’t usually go to those sorts of things,” he shrugged and her heart sank. “We have the option to go, all the STARK employees do, I could go if I wanted to.”

“You should come.”

He nodded, “I’ve got to get back to work.”

“Please come?”

“I’ll think about it.” He agreed as he walked backwards away from her.

She grinned happily at him and with a new confidence turned on her heel and walked into the lobby of the apartment building.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I absolutely love you guys who are actually reading this. Thank you, thank you, thank you.


	9. TV Show Friendships

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma meets her neighbor, Daisy Johnson. A girl who seems to have adulthood down to a science.

According to her license her apartment was number 104. She’s about to head for the elevator she’d spotted across the modestly decorated lobby when an older woman dressed in a tailored skirt suit and wearing the strictest of expressions stepped into her path. “Ms. Simmons, home so early today.”

Jemma's surge of confidence came to a screeching halt. “I’m sorry?” She said uncertainly. Who was this woman and did she really owe her any sort of explanation? Especially if she couldn’t address her by her proper title. The woman’s frown tightened and any urge to disregard her completely scurried away. “I’ve um, I’ve a gala I have to attend tonight, for work, I thought I would take some extra time to prepare.”

The scary woman looked her up and down and then clear past her to the doors Jemma had just entered from. “The gentleman you were speaking with, is he your escort to the event?”

Whomever this woman was she was horribly nosy. Though, Jemma thought, she didn’t have any real gossip to share and with a pleased smile relayed that information. “Oh no, that’s just Fitz, he’s just walked me home—“

“Do remember,” the woman interrupted and it was clear she didn’t care who Fitz was, “That if you intend to have him up to your apartment you’ll need to have him fill out an information sheet. No male guests are permitted above the first floor without one. It is an important part of the appeal to young woman the security that The Griffith offers.” Jemma stood stunned for a moment by the unexpected scolding. Rather than make a second attempt to explain she nodded and ran off for the elevator.

The short ride to the first floor didn’t give her time to contemplate why she lived in a building with such strict guidelines so she just decided that it was proximity to work.

Finding the right door was easy, finding the right key, not so much. She went through every key on her ring before successfully fitting the correct one into the lock only to have her phone begin to shrilly ring from her bag. Fumbling the keys, she reached into her purse for the phone only to groan at its request for a password before she could answer.

“I don’t know!” She cried, she tried both her parents’ birthdays and even the numbers spelling out her name. “Why do you even need a password?”

“Do you need some help with that?” Jemma looked up, cheeks turning bright red in embarrassment. She’d just been caught yelling at her phone and locked out of her own apartment by a woman probably in her early twenties who herself looked quite composed. “Oh no, I know how to get in, I just don’t have the password.” Maybe if she took the battery out and put it back in it would reset itself.

The ringing stopped. Jemma mentally cursed. What if that had been something important? Like a doctor, calling to check on her unstable mental state.

“I can get past the lock screen if you need me to, I’ve done it for my friends when they’ve done something stupid like changed the password while they were out drinking and forgot what they set it as.” The stranger explained.

“That is, most definitely, not what happened.” Well she was pretty sure that wasn’t what happened.

“A practical joke then.” She said with a shrug and held out her hand for the phone. Reluctantly Jemma passed it over, within thirty seconds the girl handed it back. “There you go, I didn’t assign a new password so you shouldn’t have trouble answering your calls, but if people have easy access to it you may want to give it one.”

Jemma barely heard her. She was distracted by the phone in her hands. The time and date were displayed over a background image of a supernova. She ran her finger across the screen and it slid left and then left again. Little pictures littered the screen. She was about to click on one when a chime emitted from the speaker.

“At least that caller left you a voicemail.” The woman said and turned back to her door.

“Do I need a password to get into that as well?”

The young woman replied with a ‘yeah’ that sounded suspiciously like a ‘duh.’

“Could you?” Jemma held the phone out hopefully. Her neighbor, Jemma deduced, raised an eyebrow skeptically and took the phone a second time; her fingers effortlessly tapping away.

“Are you feeling alright?” She asked never looking up from the screen. “I mean I know I don’t know you that well, but I can tell you’re pretty put together, are you sure you’re not hung over.”

Wouldn’t that be a nice explanation to this whole ordeal. “I’m fine.”

Jemma listened to the quiet clicking and after a minute a voice came through. _“You have one unheard message, ‘this is Billy with Lola’s Car Service calling to confirm your limo pick up for 7:30, destination The Marvel Hotel-’”_ The rest of the message was a blur. She’d tuned out after limo pick up. What did she need a limo for?

“The Marvel Hotel, fancy, it’s for that huge gala tonight? Quinn Industries is hosting it? They’ve been talking about it non-stop on the news, I never knew the scientific community threw such upscale parties.” Right! The gala. Weaver had addressed the dress code at the meeting earlier so the limo didn’t seem so out of place. “Sounds like it will be fun.”

“Oh yes, would you like to come?” Jemma asked instinctively.

The girl was completely taken back and Jemma was distinctly reminded of her attempts to make friends as a child. She was often told she was too forward and it scared off other kids. Thankfully the girl didn’t just walk away.

“Two things, first, you don’t even know my name and I don’t know yours—“

“Jemma Simmons.” She said quickly, then cringed and stopped herself from raising her hand.

“Daisy Johnson.”

“Thank you for fixing my phone, or breaking into it?”

Daisy grinned. “No problem.”

“You should come, as a thank you.” Jemma thought maybe the reasoning would make her offer less weird.

“Well that’s sort of a grand thank you, but back to my second point, I’m not allowed back into The Marvel Hotel after the last party I crashed there.” She said easily, even with a touch of pride.

“Oh.” Jemma thought she was beginning to understand why she and Daisy were not well acquainted. She was never one for bad girl shenanigans.

“Don’t look so scandalized, it was nothing illegal, they did have to fish me out of the pool though, I sort of jumped from the balcony on a dare.” Daisy explained and Jemma’s expression went from scandalized to horrified making her neighbor dissolve into laughter. “You’re not so bad Jemma, even if you do get up too damn early in the morning.”

“Oh, thank you I think.”

“I’ll see you around.” With that Daisy disappeared into her apartment. Jemma stared after her for a moment before scooping up her keys from the floor and entering her own apartment.

After, of course, going through every key once more.

* * *

Her apartment was nice. It was sensibly sized and reasonably furnished. Very practical and a bit sparse on personal touches like pictures and trinkets with the exception of a few beautiful bookcases filled to the brim with books. The kitchen was small and clean but the fridge and cabinets were thinly stocked.

Wandering down the hall led her to the only two other rooms; a small bathroom and bedroom. The bedroom held a bed, pushed against the wall to make space. Space that was taken up by a large well organized desk. She easily found the invitation to that evening’s event and a note reminding her to call the car service and confirm her ride.

Her fingers itched to pick up her phone and dial the number listed but she really couldn’t. She had to see a doctor, find out what was wrong with her head. That was the priority. Not the gala. No matter how amazing a gathering of scientific minds of 2016 might be. Especially a grand one with formal wear and limo rides.

Willing herself not to think about it Jemma searched the desk for a doctor’s note and then the medicine cabinet looking for any sort of prescription. She couldn’t decide if she was relieved or not when she didn’t find either.

She walked back down to the kitchen to make tea and consider her options. Underneath the cabinet she found the kettle and with some digging she found the tea. She had to shove aside a can of coffee in the process. She didn’t understand why she had it, she made the worst coffee.

She sat at the tiny kitchen table sipping her tea and deciding how to proceed. There had been a physician’s number in her address book; she could set up an appointment for, first thing Monday she supposed. Unless they had weekend hours.

Maybe she should go straight to the hospital.

The invitation that she had moved to the refrigerator door caught her eye. She really wanted to go and it wasn’t like she felt ill.

_I can run a few tests of my own,_ she thought positively. What would they do at a hospital anyways that she couldn’t do right here at home? CAT Scan aside of course.

Jemma wandered back down to the bathroom. She checked her pupils for reaction and her pulse for irregularities and her head for unusual bumps. Nothing out of the ordinary. Except for the memory loss but that wasn’t urgent. Nope she was as fit as always.

Jemma gave herself a temporary clear bill of health and called the car service to confirm her ride for the evening before gathering a few belongings for a shower.

* * *

She was hot.

Physically, not temperature wise.

By fifteen many girls had gone through puberty and were reaching their peak years so to speak. Jemma had not exactly been a late bloomer, in fact she was quite filled out in certain areas, but she was still packing some baby fat and her freckles were no help in making her look older.

Now as she stood naked in front of her mirror she could see her baby fat had kindly relocated to more appealing places.

It made her kind of giddy.

She’d fill out her dress nicely.

Jemma had located three garment bags in her closet. She had taken just a moment to admire how well organized the tiny closet was to hold the sheer amount of neutral trousers and patterned blouses that made up her work wardrobe. Then she was excitedly unzipping the bags to reveal her gown options.

Across her bed she laid out a short dark blue cocktail dress, a classy black gown and finally a pretty pink one. She could rule out the first, although probably her favorite, as the invitation and Dr. Weaver specified formal and formal meant floor length. Of the other two she gravitated towards the latter. The shimmery fabric of the skirt caught the light in a lovely way, as did the details on the bodice.

The black one was more appropriate for a work event though, even a fancy one.

With that decision out of the way Jemma pulled on a pair of matching undergarments that made her once again giddy like a school girl and went about a search for make-up. Thankfully her organization system hadn’t changed much since fifteen and was effective no matter the layout of her room. She did manage to cross the space back and forth about ten times though out of anxiety and with each pass her eyes lingered on the pale fabric of the alternative dress. On the eleventh pass she abandoned the black dress, hanging it back in the garment bag and returning it to its place in the closet.

She did her hair and make up to the best of her ability, realizing when she already had a straighter and curling iron turned on that she didn’t know how to style short hair, let alone in a way appropriate for a gala. Not to mention the most complicated make up application she had ever attempted was a tri-color eye shadow, all in shades of beige.

Eyeliner...that was on a whole other level.

She thought it looked okay in the end. She did have a steady hand and excellent concentration.

Her intense focus was a blessing and a curse she realized when without noticing her time had elapsed and the limo was outside for her and she didn’t have time to doubt her decision to wear the extra high heels rather than the cute comfy kitten heels.

A decision she regretted immediately upon tripping over the threshold of her doorway.

A swooping in her gut told her to have the limo drive her to the hospital.

“Wow, you look amazing.”

Jemma steadied herself and looked up to find Daisy smiling at her. She was dressed nicely too, not gala nicely but she definitely had plans for the night. “I honestly didn’t think you owned anything that wasn’t completely drab.”

Instinctively she wanted to defend her wardrobe choices to her neighbor but remembering how dull her clothing had looked in her closet, and the fact that the only vibrant piece, the dress she was wearing now, had still had a tag on it. “Does—Do I really look okay, I’ve never been—“ no, that probably wasn’t right, “I’m never sure what to wear to these things.” She corrected.

“You look fantastic, vibrant, youthful.” Daisy said, testing different words.

Youthful had not been what Jemma was going for and Daisy quickly picked up on that. “Still hot though and professional, it’s definitely does not say prom bomb if that’s what your worried about.” Jemma had been ten when she attended her last school dance and if she recalled her dress then may have been the same shade of pink.

She wondered if she had time to run back inside and change. “This is an event of my intellectual peers, I don’t want to look juvenile,” she explained to Daisy who was nodding along. “Do you think I should change, I have a nice black dress.”

Daisy shrugged. “Black is good, are you trying to get laid too?”

Jemma choked on the gasp that escaped her and stuttered out a response. “Oh no, no, no.”

“Then your fine, although I don’t think you’d have trouble either way but black is a nice trump card.”

Jemma, hoping the pink of her dress didn’t bring out the pink in her cheeks laughed a bit. “You are very straightforward aren’t you?”

“I am.” Daisy answered proudly. “So Believe me if you didn’t look good or appropriate I would tell you to get your butt back inside and change.”

Jemma felt a genuine smile tugging at her lips. “Thank you, you look nice too, do you have a date tonight?”

The pair locked their apartment doors and started down the hallway. “Kind of, some friends are going out and there is this one guy, I like him I think, I was going to try and find out for sure tonight.”

“Sounds fun.” Jemma had dreamed of experiences like that. A group of friends who always hung out together and feelings developing amongst them. Other friends being nosy and gossipy about whether it will or won’t happen. Like a TV Show.

Daisy did not share her sentiments. “More like agonizing,” she groaned. “This is either going to be a disaster or amazing or some awkward combination of the two.”

“I take it back then, that sounds dreadful.”

“Inevitable.”

“Really?”

Daisy shrugged. The super casual, always cool vibe Jemma had first picked up on fell for just a moment and she realized she had maybe stumbled into something personal. “It would not be the first time I was wrong about a guy.”

“Still you’re very calm about the prospect of it not working out.” The older woman—no the younger woman, that would be hard to keep straight, was proving to be a very impressive individual.

Daisy stood up straighter and tossed back her short hair. “I’m used to it; it’s only been happening since elementary school.” She said as they stepped into the lobby. Jemma frowned. She’d never had a heartbreak before but she didn’t think of it as something to brush off. How many times did it have to happen before you walked into a new potential disaster without flinching? “You’re a worrier, I can tell.”

“What?”

“I like my method, trial and error, eventually I’m going to find the right person for me.” Daisy explained. “In the meantime I meet a lot of interesting people.”

Jemma decided then that she quite liked Daisy and thought maybe, despite the strange situation she had found herself a friend. Maybe one that could help her navigate adult hood.

The pair exited The Griffith and the limo driver was waiting at the door to open it for her. Jemma turned to Daisy with an idea. “You won't come to the gala as a thank you for your help earlier, but how would you feel about showing up to your social gathering in a limo and giving your friends a real shock.”

Daisy grinned. “I like the way you think.” And with that she climbed into the limo with a nod at the driver and Jemma followed behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this chapter puts us at officially caught up with where I dropped off last time. I swear it won't happen again. New chapters are on the way. I hope you all caught my Agent Carter references. Much love again to those who continue reading.


	10. A Fancy Night Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma gets to attend her gala.

Jemma had attended a good number of science conventions. A couple dozen banquets. And more conferences then she cared to count. Some of them had even taken place in large hotel ballrooms to accommodate the guests. But this was the first one she’d attended where the beauty of the room wasn’t diminished by rows of fold out chairs, a portable stage and a pull down projector screen.

No the ballroom of The Marvel Hotel was magnificent, from the bones of the room’s structure, to the grand chandeliers, to the immaculately dressed attendees. A marble floor stretched out in front of her when she entered through one of many sets of double doors. Guests were gathered at the center of the room, swaying to the music performed by a live band. An impressively stocked bar was set up to one side and was extremely popular with the guests. Across the floor from her was a staircase that split halfway up and led to a balcony that wrapped around the entire room. That would be where the exchange of ideas would happen, away from the music and dancing.

And without a single pull down screen in sight.

She was so anxious to listen to her fellow scientists talk about the advancements of 2016 that she was halfway to the staircase before a hand on her shoulder stopped her. “Nice dress.”

Jemma can’t help her little smile at the compliment. She turned around to greet her new companion and the hem of her dress twirled around her ankles. It really was a nice dress.

Raina, Jemma remember her new lab partner’s name, had traded out her work appropriate floral dress for a more formal one, still embroidered with flowers. “Thank you, I like yours too.”

“Oh it’s nice too, it’s just nothing out of the ordinary, yours however-“ She left the sentence hanging and Jemma couldn’t help but think that everything Raina said came out cryptic and now she was, once again, doubting her ensemble for the evening. She ran her fingers over the gauzy shimmery material of the skirt to remind herself how pretty it was and how pretty it made her feel to help herself not to dwell on it. It wasn’t as though she could change it now.

“Should we head upstairs?” She asked, trying to downplay her eagerness.

Raina gave her another questioning once over. “Maybe you can dive right into that shark tank but I am not going up there without a drink, join me?” She was already walking away. Jemma didn’t see where she had much of a choice.

“But I’m not old enough to drink.” She started to follow and the wobble of her heels sent a jolt through her that quickly reminded her she wasn’t fifteen, she was twenty-eight and if she wanted to she could have drink from the bar. As she hurried after Raina she tried to recall the name of a drink she could order.

To her relief, when she took a seat next to Raina a list of drinks, pre-selected for the event was placed in front of her. She pointed at the top one and smiled at the bar tender, ready to reach for her ID if needed.

“So you disappeared from the meeting before we were able to speak with Coulson, you know he’s got us next, great timing with the grant up for grabs.” Jemma nodded thinking she should learn about this grant everyone kept mentioning as soon as possible. Maybe there was a program for the event. Maybe the bartender had one. “He’s got an idea in mind already too but I think we should still try to sell him on what we’ve been working on, just imagine what the money could do for it.” Jemma’s posture stiffened. Raina had mentioned a project earlier; she had meant to find notes on it when she was in the lab in case it came up. Unfortunately, no notes had been found and she had no idea what it was. Surely it was phenomenal but if they jumped into conversation about it right now Raina was going to know something was wrong with her.

“Oh, yes, of course,” she agreed tentatively, “but if Mr. Coulson has ideas there is no harm in hearing him out.” Raina arched a perfect eyebrow in her direction. Jemma looked down at the bar to avoid her gaze and noticed her drink had been placed in front of her. She snatched it up quickly, thrilled for the excuse not to speak, and cringed as she took a sip, the bitter liquid burning down her throat. “Oh that is awful.”

“I thought it was a strange pick for you, you usually go for the less frilly drinks.” Jemma coughed until the bartender placed a glass of water in front of her and Raina continued on over her attempts to compose herself. “He wants us to meet with him on Monday, I just wanted to make sure we were still in agreement.”

Supporting a project she knew nothing about was unnerving to Jemma but if she had technically agreed to it in the past then she thought she could at least give an affirmative nod without too much worry.

“Good evening ladies and gentleman!” A voice boomed across the ballroom. Ian Quinn was standing at center stage, the band having stepped aside for him. “I want to thank you all for attending the festivities tonight, I know this event is about the benefit grant and discovering who out there really wants to change the world for the better-“

“More like change worldwide for the better.” Raina mumbled and Jemma shot her a quick look of confusion.

“But tonight should also be about having fun.” Quinn said joyfully. “Share your ideas, but keep it upstairs because the dance floor is not a place for talk tonight.”

“He better have it while he can.” Raina muttered again.

The crowd, already a bit tipsy, cheered as Quinn stepped off the stage and the band began to play again. Beside her Raina stood, “now or never I guess.” She threw back the rest of her drink and waited for Jemma to stand.

“What were you saying, while he was speaking?” Jemma asked curiously. Raina moved so gracefully towards the staircase Jemma tried to mimic her stride thinking it may make the heels easier to walk in. She only stumbled clumsily into a waiter.

“Just that Quinn had better hope this grant to _better-the-world_ works out or he’s going to be trading his mansion in for a ten foot by ten foot cell.” Raina explained. “That’s the only reason his company is sponsoring this, after he tarnished their reputation last year when they found out he was ripping off ideas from college kids.” Raina ascended the stairs gracefully while Jemma clutched desperately at the railing while trying to take in this new information. The balcony was filled to the small groups of neutrally dressed guests. Jemma thought she recognized a few of them from the one hour she spent at SHIELD but wouldn’t risk guessing anyone’s name. She heard various words like Gravitonium, Pym Particles and cranial discharge all of which sounded like conversations she would like to be a part of however Raina was making her way directly to a group, two of whose members were engaged in an argument that was getting progressively louder.

“Boys, boys you are making a scene.” Raina said calmly and the group turned their eyes on her. On them. Jemma fidgeted under the looks of those blatantly staring at her. She shifted uncomfortably and tugged helplessly at her short hair, wishing it was long again so it could provide some cover.

“Raina, Dr. Simmons.” One of them greeted, adding a strange emphasis to her name. “Excellent timing, you can help us settle the matter.” Another one of them said. He reminded Jemma less of a scientist and more of a smarmy salesman, but she tried not to judge on appearances.

“Alright then, tell us what topic we will be imparting our wisdom on.”

“Micro-technology, specifically miniaturized wireless cameras.” The man elaborated.

Jemma stood up straighter, her discomfort forgotten at the prospect of working out a problem. But what was there to debate really? Phones were just being equip with cameras when she was fifteen, certainly they were more powerful now.

“How small are we talking?” Raina asked.

“Microscopic, this moron thinks we could develop something small enough to internalize,” after the loud man gestured at an equally unappealing gentleman across the circle he raised a finger to the side of his face, “within the eye.”

“Intriguing.” Raina hummed just as Jemma scoffed and replied with “impossible.”

Every eye was back on her and she knew her answer was wrong. They stared intently, waiting for some continuation that she wasn’t sure she could give. Technology couldn’t have advanced that far in just thirteen years, could it? “Well it would be difficult and all for nothing, having an internalized camera, how would you even retrieve the data from it and w-what source of power would it have, are you supposed to remove your eyeball every time it needs charging, or install a port in your head to run the cable to?” She was half joking and half serious but no one else seemed to pick up on that.

She squirmed under their stares and tried to revise her statement. “You could perhaps have a robotic eye, not one that would function properly, no real optical function I mean, it could be a camera s-still.” Oh god they were still staring at her. “An external camera would make much more sense.” She finished lamely.

Finally, the first man spoke again.

“I guess what they say is true.”

“Excuse me?”

He smirked at her. “About pretty girls and smart girls.” Jemma didn’t entirely follow. “Perhaps Dr. Simmons,” she recognized the emphasis on her name this time as mockery -“you should stick to your sweaters and slacks, your thoughts are a bit scattered when you’re all dressed up.”

Jemma wasn’t sure if she was flushed with embarrassment or anger. Either way she was walking away, stomping off actually. Never, in all her life, had her intelligence been insulted so directly. Twenty-eight years old and still absolutely no respect. Sure she wasn’t up to date on 2016 technology but she thought she was picking it up pretty quickly.

She safely made her way back down most of the stairs but missed the last step and toppled forward. She grabbed at the banister to steady herself. Someone caught her other arm, insuring that she recovered her balance. “Maybe you should go to the hospital, in case it really is a head injury.”

Her anger dissipated immediately at the sound of Fitz’s voice. Her embarrassment doubled but she wasn’t fuming anymore. He sounded so concerned, she really had to prioritize. “I just lost my-” She moved her eyes up from her feet once they were firmly back on the floor, her voice getting lost on the way. She hardly recognized her best friend not dressed in his jeans and jumpers and tattered old trainers. The nice suit he wore instead completely threw her off, exemplifying how much older he, they, were. She always knew he’d grow up to be handsome with his good bone structure and beautiful eyes but the scruff accentuating the nice line of his jaw and the fact that navy was a very flattering color on him were details that she had not foreseen. “Footing.”

“Are you dizzy, do you need to sit down?” He’s not looking directly at her but instead scanning the room for a chair.

She tried to brush off his worry and her side tracked thoughts. “Oh I’m fine, well clearly not fine, but that before was just my shoes, see.” She adjusted her grip on his arm so she could raise her skirt and show off the incredibly high heels of her shoes. He glanced down, nodded in understanding, blinked a few times and snapped his eyes back up to hers.

“D-did you figure out what was causing the memory loss?” He asked.

She shook her head. “No unfortunately, I searched my whole apartment and couldn’t find anything, no evidence of recently sustained injuries, no doctor’s appointments on the calendar.” She tried to smile reassuringly as she watched his forehead crease with worry, “I did find a number for my physician.”

“Good, you should probably go see them, even if your memories do come back.”

“I will Fitz, I promise.”  She said encouragingly, still trying to erase the concern from his eyes.

“Okay.”

She still had her hand on his arm, while his free hand hovered behind her back in case she lost her balance. She’d never really taken in to account personal space when it came to Fitz but she was very aware now of how close he’s standing to her and she could tell it had occurred to him too.

“I’m glad you came tonight,” she blurted out.

Fitz stepped back to give her space. “I don’t usually unless STARK makes it mandatory and that’s only ever the ones we’re throwing, the ones Quinn throws are always upscale though, good food and open bar.” He gestured back at the bar that Jemma was hesitant to test her luck at again. “Do you want to grab a drink?”

“I don’t know what to order,” she admitted, “brain of a fifteen year old and all.”

“Right, probably best to not add alcohol into the equation.”

Jemma nodded. “Maybe we could dance instead?”

Controlling his facial expressions had never been one of Fitz’s strong suits and that still stood true. She watched his eyes go from surprise to panic to uncertainty. She kept forgetting they hadn’t spoken in years and that it was probably weird for him, her making such a suggestion. “You can say no, I just thought it would be fun, and I’m not ready to back up there and make a fool of myself.”

“You shouldn’t worry about that, you’re way smarter than all of them.” The blush that had just started to fade from her cheeks now burned brighter.

“And how would you know, I thought we didn’t work together anymore.”

“I follow your work, I can’t pick up a science related publication that your work isn’t in and its as brilliant as its always been.” Her stomach flipped, usually she could take a compliment to her work more gracefully. Maybe it was just the thrill of hearing her work was reputable? Jemma looked up at him, her heels made her almost as tall as him again and she was struck now by how different he looked without really looking any different all. He started to squirm and Jemma realized she was staring pretty intently. “I try to follow anything that relates to my work.” He explained hastily.

“And biochemistry relates to building small robotic monkeys?” She asked.

Fitz took a moment to process her comment before bursting into laughter. “Okay that is not all I do at STARK.” He reached out and took her hand again, then, to her surprise, pulled her towards the dance floor. They positioned themselves and begin to turn on the spot. Jemma smiled, silently pleased that she could still persuade him to do things, even if he did make a fuss. Her gut tingled unpleasantly this time as she realized there had been one thing she hadn’t been able to convince him to do.

“So what else do you do for STARK, their big thing is weapons right?” Jemma asked. She hadn’t seen mention of it on their website but it was also not the most welcoming of things to showcase to the general public.

“Not any more, there was an incident back in ’08 and Tony disbanded the entire division or morphed it really, it refocused on field assistants and data collection; alternative energy sources has been a big focus lately and I’ve even heard talk of artificial intelligence but I think Pepper will pull the plug on that.”

Jemma laughed, she barely knew Pepper but could tell the woman ran a tight ship.

“Sounds fascinating, I wish I knew more about what SHIELD’s focus is-ouch!”

Fitz cringed and quickly apologized for treading on her foot.

“It’s okay.”

He smiled thankfully at her reassurance. “SHIELD’s big thing was the development of the benefit serum, to increase strength and endurance but then Cybertek beat you to it so –“

She cut him off with a cross look. “Stole our formula from what I heard and then they built a delivery mechanism, supposedly we don’t have any decent engineers at SHIELD because Stark snatches them all up.”

Fitz shifted. “We’re pretty lacking in the biochem department, so it balances out,” he reasoned.

“That doesn’t sound like it benefits either company.”

“No,” he said, “that’s a good point.” He seemed to actually be contemplating something for a moment before shaking the thoughts away. “If you want to know more about what SHIELD is interested in we could head upstairs and listen in.”

Jemma adamantly shook her head, “oh no, I’ll just say something completely idiotic again, it’s best that I just stay here.” She griped his jacket a little tighter in her fingers. He would just have to stay right there as well. It was the most at ease she had been all day, just spinning on the spot with Fitz.

Thankfully he wasn’t trying too hard to pull away. Instead he smirked down at her, “I know it goes against everything in you Simmons but you could just not say anything, believe it or not you won’t be struck down in the name of science if you don’t give input on something, no stray lightning, no sudden earthquakes.” Jemma shoved his arm and he didn’t even try to stifle his laughter.

“Are you implying that I talk too much?” She tried to sound offended but his laughter was proving infectious.

“Only when you know more about a topic than the person you are speaking to which is always and everyone except for engineering and you’re talking to me.”

Jemma scoffed and the playfulness of their banter diminished. “Well right now that’s never, I’m probably the most clueless person here.”  Their swaying had stopped entirely now as Jemma stared down at the floor. She shouldn’t be here, surrounded by all these brilliant people when she couldn’t keep up.

“You’re just having an off day.” Jemma raised her eyes back to his. They seemed so sincere she found it hard to disagree with them. “Come on upstairs, it’ll be good for you to listen in, besides the song’s over.”

Her insecurity spiked again and she was about to ask for just one more song but Fitz was backing away and her feet were following. When they made it up the stairs Raina spotted her immediately and ushered her in to the group she was chatting with. She gave Fitz a once over, like she was trying to decide if he was important enough to acknowledge before deciding he wasn’t and reinserting herself into the conversation.

“It’s not unreasonable to suggest downsizing it enough to be portable, I’m not saying pocket sized but one that could be brought outside the lab.” One of the men was saying.

“It’s a HaloTABLE for more reasons than just having a large work space, all of the mechanics have to go somewhere.” Another argued. Jemma stood back half hidden behind Fitz as she listened and tried to comprehend that they were discussing. Assuming a halotable was exactly was the name implied the amount of technological advancement over just a decade was incredible. Surely at such an exponential growth rate a portable one wasn’t that far out of reach.

Fitz, still psychically linked to her thoughts apparently, leaned over to whisper about how STARK was lightyears ahead of everyone else in that area.

“So what are you two planning, since the whole Benefit Serum accident you’ve got a lot to make up for.” Jemma recognized the man addressing them across the table from her earlier embarrassment. She tensed up, her mind preparing a worthy retort to shut him down but Raina was already there.

“It wouldn’t call what happened an accident, what happened with Dr. Banner was an accident, the fact that SHIELD is not secure enough to keep our research safe is a problem.”

“You have no proof that Cybertek stole your formula, you just don’t want to admit that we came to the solution before you did and built a working delivery mechanism.” Jemma’s attention was drawn to a man who could only be described as by the book tall dark and handsome on the outside but his voice already rubbed her the wrong way. As did the snobby looking woman next to him. 

“What more proof do you need, your formula went from a cocktail of every previous compound that had shown signs of working to a mirror image of our own.” Raina snapped.

The man shrugged, “well you know how it is, when one thing falls into place everything starts to come together, gave us enough to go on to start the centipede mechanism.”

“You can’t jump into a delivery mechanism without having a concrete formula.”

The group simultaneously turned on Fitz.

He glanced back at her before continuing. “You can’t and the centipede is proof of that. It’s only effective if the device is continuously pumping the serum into the subject’s system, can’t be removed without lasting damage to the wearer’s forearm and I’ve never worn one personally but it looks bloody uncomfortable, couldn’t you have picked a less obstructive area of the body to attach it too.”

Jemma couldn’t help the smile spreading across her face.

“And what would you have done?”

“Well first I would have let Dr. Simmons finish her serum rather than stealing an incomplete formula.” A few snickers echoed through the group and he turned towards her. “You had intended on a serum that would only need to be administered once right?”

She had no idea but nodded anyways.

“Then perhaps I would have designed a device to administer _and_ bond the formula.” He finished in a tone that said not only was his idea right but also painfully obvious.

Raina was looking at Fitz with a new found appreciation while Jemma simply beamed at him. “What do you say to that Mr. Ward, Dr. Wynn?” Raina said, addressing the pair that had been stunned into silence.

Jemma wanted to take a moment to bask in their lack of response but here mind was reeling with thoughts on the benefits serum. “Actually a device to administer the formula and then a second one to bond it would have likely worked best.” She muttered.

“What?” Raina asked, narrowing her eyes.

“Don’t you think Fitz?” She said louder.

“Well then you would need a separate formula for the enhancement and then a bonding agent.”

“Exactly, we’re already trying to create a formula that does so much, to have it to bond on a cellular level too, well that’s asking a lot, but if the body takes it in and then something new is added to stabilize it, well it would certainly make building a mechanism to inject easier right?”

He grinned down at her and she could see his wheels turning and his fingers itching for paper to scribble on. “Of course, a device with fewer functions is almost always easier to build but in a case like this it would be all around more effective.”

“Two unique devices working simultaneously…”

“to create a more efficient and effective administration…”

“of the two formulas with lasting results.”

Jemma beamed at the crowd as she and Fitz came to a synchronized finish. They were staring, some of them open mouthed but all of them in awe and she couldn’t have been more pleased. She was going to handle 2016 just fine.

She turned to Fitz hoping to share her elation at the acknowledgment of their combined genius only to find him frowning at…her. No not her. Past her, over her shoulder or at her ear. Then he was backing away from her.

“Fitz what’s wrong?”

He shook his head, wringing his hands nervously. “Nothing, I um, I actually have to go now.”

Jemma’s eyes widened, “but why?” They were having so much fun, he had to stay.

“Just somewhere I have to be, it was nice seeing you again.” Jemma barely heard him over the chatter that had broken out after their benefit serum breakthrough.

“Wait, just stay a bit longer—“

She started to follow but a woman stepped in front of her. “Dr. Simmons, your proposal is fascinating, I was wondering if you had read the article on paralysis toxins in the most recent Biology journal.”

The subject piqued her interest, drawing her in as her eyes lost sight of Fitz.

“I-I haven’t had the chance actually,” she said slowly, “I’ve been carrying around the article just waiting for some downtime.”

“Right as if you have down time.” The woman laughed before jumping into a detailed breakdown of the high points of the article and issues it presented. Jemma listened with rapt attention eager know more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Absolutely had to post this before the episode tonight. Poor chapter already got delayed due to last week's episode. How's any one suppose to get any work done when Fitzsimmons are off making heart eyes at each other? And a chapter that has to have plot on top of that. Its a miracle I made it through this. 
> 
> Also my science is bs and I don't even know how to properly research. Many apologies for anything that doesn't make sense.


	11. A Library of New Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma catches up on her reading.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a super short chapter. But what can I say. Cannon Fitzsimmons is requiring more of my time than fanfic Fitzsimmons.

The dull ache in her head the next morning made turning off her alarm as quickly as possibly high priority. She fumbled for a bit, had to crawl to the edge of the bed to even reach the horrid device and end its incessant beeping. Once it was off she could process that she was not in her tiny twin bed. When the sleep cleared from her eyes she realized she was not in her tiny SciTech apartment bedroom.

Her mind, still foggy from something aside from sleep, started to pull pieces of yesterday back together.

She wasn’t in her SciTech apartment because she wasn’t a SciTech employee. She worked for SHIELD and could afford her own apartment. She was a respected scientist with her own lab. She had an unusual neighbor, a potential boyfriend and at least half a dozen intimidating colleagues.

And she couldn’t remember how any of it had come about.

Her hope that yesterday had been a very vivid dream was pretty quickly squashed. She stood up slowly. Dizziness, which could have been the effects of a recent head injury but were more likely just from the alcohol consumption the night before made her drop back on the bed. She really shouldn’t have accepted any drinks last night, or at the very least shouldn’t have choked them down out of politeness.

There was probably something in the bathroom for headaches. If she could make it there.

As she fussed at the medicine cabinet she tried to ignore the little voice in her head repeating what was both the most illogical reason behind her memory loss but in a strange way made the most since. She had wished for this, she thought, and now she was exactly where she had wanted to be. And it wouldn’t’ be such a bad deal, if she could just remember the thirteen years in between.

But a least that solidified her plans for the weekend.

She had over a decade of scientific discovers to catch up on. There was also a decade of interpersonal relationships but those could probably wait considering everyone from her past seemed to be out of her life and everyone she currently knew she probably interacted with yesterday.

Pushing those thoughts away Jemma ran through her morning routine, something that hadn’t changed in in thirteen years given that most of the products she used remained the same. She tossed on the first pair of casual clothes she could find and hurried out to the living room to exam the book shelves. Every title was better than the last. Arc Reactor Technology-The Future of Clean Energy, Gravitonium and other rare elements, Halotable: Use and maintenance. Jemma was able to hold off her excitement just long enough to throw a kettle on the stove and make some tea before returning to pull down books two at a time.

At noon she found herself outside of her neighbor’s apartment clutching her laptop to her chest and waiting for the girl to answer the door. She had found that diving in to the most interesting books had led to a lot of confusion. Science tended to build on its self and she realized she had to stop numerous times when she came across some new piece of equipment she was unfamiliar with or even an element she’d never heard of.

She thought the best way to remedy the situation was to have easy access to a search engine.

The door in front of Jemma opened to reveal and very sleepy looking Daisy who didn’t say anything just stared at her through half open eyes.

“Hello.” Jemma said cheerily.

Daisy still didn’t say anything.

“I’m so sorry to bother you but I was hoping you could do that hacking thing again, you see I was also locked out of my laptop and I really need to use it.” Jemma held out the computer to Daisy. Some clarity appeared across the younger girl’s face and she took the laptop with one hand and rubbed her eyes with the other. “I’m sorry,” Jemma apologize, “I woke you didn’t I, I didn’t think you’d still be asleep.”

Daisy shook her head as she examined the device, looking for a make and model. “I was up, sort of.”

“Hey Daisy, have you seen my shirt?” Jemma looked past the girl, into the apartment and was met with the sight of a tall, handsome, well-formed and shirtless man shuffling around the living area. Her cheeks suddenly burned bright red and she averted her eyes to the wood floor.

“Try the kitchen.” Daisy called back as she stepped into the hallway and closed the door behind her.

Jemma took a minute to find her tongue before she started babbling out an apology. “I am so sorry, I didn’t realize, oh god you didn’t have to come to the door and this, this can certainly wait until later.” She started to reach for the computer only to have Daisy slap her hands away. She had already opened the computer and was typing away at the keys. Jemma stared at her slack jawed, “I can’t believe you would really want to work on my computer rather than be in there with your boyfriend.”

“He’s not really my boyfriend,” Daisy said. She slid down the wall to sit on the floor and freely use both of her hands. “You’ve got excellent security on this thing by the way.”

Jemma’s lack of response had Daisy peering up at her. “Oh come on, you were twenty one once.”

Jemma’s eyes widened. “Oh no I didn’t mean to appear judgmental you’re at perfect liberty to have sex with whomever you want.”  Daisy looked surprised by her blunt statement, “I just— is he not the guy you mentioned yesterday?”

Daisy looked back at the computer and shrugged. “Yes and no, he’s the guy but I’m not so sure anymore that he’s the guy.”

Jemma frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that, did something happen?”

Daisy peered at her again.

“What?” Jemma asked.

“Just trying to decide if you’re the type to scoff or understand when I say we didn’t click, there was no spark.”

“Oh no I understand completely!” Jemma said. She kneeled down next to Daisy, placing an understanding hand on her knee. “A person can be by the book perfect for you and not be the one.”

“Poetic, thanks for not judging.”

“Of course.”

“So what are you working on?”

“Sorry?”

“You said it was urgent that you had to get into your computer, thought it was strange, I assumed you had to do all your work at a lab.”

“Well yes most of it does have to be done in the lab but research can be done anywhere as long as there is a credited reliable source.” Jemma explained. Daisy laughed under her breath.

“Is this how you spend all your weekends?”

Jemma honestly didn’t know the answer to that so she tried to respond ambiguously. “I take any opportunity I can spare to learn.”

“Well that’s great but what about fun or relaxing activities, movies, dating, sleeping past noon.”

“While I do find my research quite fun if I do need to relax I have a vast collection of documentaries and a Doctor Who box set.”

“Wow you are a nerd.” Daisy laughed. “I’ll lend you some DVD’s if you ever need to give that brain of yours a break.”

“I-thanks.” Nobody ever understood her love of studying.

“No problem, here you’re in,” she said passing back the laptop, “seriously that is some damn good security you’ve got on there.”

“Oh well SHIELD had some information stolen from them a little while back, they probab-I mean they upped the security after that.” Jemma improvised. “They’d completely freak out if they knew someone broke past it.”

“They shouldn’t feel bad, I’m better at this than most.” Daisy explained. She picked herself up off the floor and held out her hand to Jemma. “I should get back inside, I have to have the it’s not you it’s me, there just were no sparks, the lets just be friends talk with my overnight guest.”

“That sounds horrible.” Jemma said honestly.

Daisy shook her head, “so innocent, I’ll see you around.” 

* * *

She could call Fitz.

It was a thought that crossed her mind maybe twelve times per new text. He could explain all this new stuff to her and he'd certainly listen to the ideas that she couldn't write fast enough to get down on paper. She wasn't hesitant though. He had disappeared so quickly last night, she must have done something to make him uncomfortable. She'd give him space. Let him adjust to the thought of her being around again. 

She highlighted a few sections of the page she was on. 

And then she would hit him with all her questions. 

 


	12. Reassurance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma has a new project on her hands. One that she's not sure she can do.

Monday morning came around and Jemma woke having accepted her new life. Her alarm went off at 5:45am and Jemma finally understood Daisy’s passing comment about waking up too damn early. She slammed the alarm off before it could wake her neighbor and climbed out of bed wide awake.

She ran through her morning routine, again pleased it hadn’t changed drastically and at eight o clock she set out for work.

She arrived at the lab early, at least she hoped it was. She needed to find her notes on the project Raina had mentioned so that she would be prepared to present it to Coulson. She started up the computer at her lab station and scanned the files for the most recently opened ones since she had no idea what the project may be listed as.

The first file talked about something called a Terragin Crystal and while Jemma barely skimmed the document it took only that to realize how dangerous it was. Not to be handled without protective gear. Not to be inhaled if airborne. Not to leave lab 7 under any circumstances.

What was this stuff?! She opened a few more files until she found one that stated that the origin of the crystals were unknown and the only samples on record were ones seized from an underground research lab. The original procurer of the crystals died mysteriously.

Jemma searched for a hypothesis, anything they were trying to prove about this dangerous substance that would make the risk of working with it worth it.

“Simmons!” Jemma jumped. Raina was in the doorway of the lab and Jemma glanced at the clock in the corner of the computer screen. Far more time had passed than she had realized and now she was very late for their meeting with Coulson and she still didn’t know how she felt about this project Raina was so proud of.

As she trailed along behind Raina to the conference room they had used the other day she decided that she would just let Raina do the talking and nod when it seemed appropriate.

Coulson was waiting for them, already seated at the conference table.

Jemma started to stretch out her hand to introduce herself when she remembered she’d worked with him before. She quickly reconstructed her greeting. “Nice to see you again sir.”

“Always a pleasure Dr. Simmons, Raina.”

Jemma wondered if Raina had a last name. Surely there was one on the lab door, she just couldn’t recall it.

“Now that we’re all settled, we can dive right in I think.”

“Yes,” Raina agreed and it was the most emotion she’d seen on the woman’s face since meeting her, “we have been presented with an opportunity to work with a rare substance and we can easily utilize it for a weapon, I promise the results would be beyond satisfactory.”

Coulson frowned. “I’m sure it’s an excellent prototype you have in mind, you two have never once let me down, which is why I think you can handle something bigger.”

“I assure you Coulson there is nothing bigger at the moment than this.”

“There could be,” Coulson said. He certainly had Jemma’s attention. “There has always been a need for a way to more effectively subdue potential threats; necessary intel has been lost, misunderstandings have been made and in unfortunate circumstances innocent lives have been lost.” He explained and Jemma listened with rapt attention. “I believe what the world needs now is a non-lethal means of taking out threats.” 

“Isn’t that a contradiction?” Raina said clearly frustrated.

“No I understand.” Jemma intercepted. “It would be ground-breaking, I mean it could be impossible-“

Coulson stopped her, “I wouldn’t think that word was in your vocabulary.”

“I try not to be limited in my thinking Mr. Coulson but where would we even be-“Jemma’s mind rewound to the article in the journal that she finally had a chance to read. The neurotoxin study.  “A sedative would do the trick to safely subdue a threat but it would have to be instantaneous if the threat was hostile and could return fire, but a sedative strong enough to be instantaneous would likely leave lasting damage which would defeat the whole purpose—“

“Can I get a but?”

Jemma grinned, “but a compound formulated using specific dosages of neurotoxins that directly affects various bodily functions and a delivery mechanism that was safe and precise of course.”

Coulson smiled. “You think you could do it?”

Jemma ran some numbers in her head. She was pretty sure she could make it happen, as long as she learned how to use half the equipment in her lab, or even just a quarter of it. “Yeah, I can make it happen.”

“Wait Coulson,” Raina desperately interjected. “We’ve barely touched on our original idea.”

“True, well I’ve always been impressed with your work, why don’t you submit plans for both and Dr. Weaver and I will make a decision on which to submit for the grant.”

That sounded fair. It would also give her time to prepare a more detailed set of plans for a non-lethal weapon. And to better understand the other project she was working on. “That sounds fair, how long do we have till we need to submit them.”

Coulson contemplated. “How about Thursday for the proposal and we can decide if we need to gear our focus on one or the other, we’ll take a day to make a decision and you’ll be able to begin work a week from today.”

“That would be perfect.” Raina glared at her across the table. She gave a weak smile in return.

Coulson stood. “I’ll let you get to work then.”

Jemma stood as well. There was a lot of research to be done. The group exited the conference room. Jemma was mentally prioritizing what she needed to familiarize herself with to have a proposal ready by Thursday. She was halfway back to the lab when she was stopped abruptly.

“What was that?!” Raina demanded, grabbing her arm.

Jemma squirmed, for such a tiny person Raina had a grip like a vice. She searched for words that would make Raina understand her position without revealing she knew next to nothing about the project. “I’m just not sure how comfortable I am with this line of research, those terragin crystals are dangerous, trying to weaponize it could be disastrous, you have to know that.”

Raina released her arm so she could fold her own in front of her. “Of course I know that but unless we can prove them useful soon we’ll never have the opportunity to delve into their beneficial properties,  SHIELD will hand them over to the government and have them stored away underground somewhere never to be accessed again.” Jemma faltered. She hadn’t gotten far enough into the files to find any positives. But if even just skin contact with it was prohibited how were they supposed to use it for good.

“I’m sorry; I didn’t realize there was a time frame to work with it.” Jemma said. Raina narrowed her eyes at her and Jemma realized that she probably was perfectly aware, “I mean I forgot we had limited access to it, it’s just that this toxin I have in mind, I think it could be really great if we could just-“

“Since when are you so caught up in non-lethal weapons anyways, honestly they should have never let you work on the benefit serum, we work for SHIELD not for cancer research, as noble as that is.” Jemma frowned. SHIELD was meant to do good too. They were meant to protect people.

Jemma fidgeted. Raina was still looking at her with something between anger and betrayal in her eyes. Anger more so. “How about you work on the original proposal and I’ll do the project for Coulson.” Jemma offered. Although she didn’t know how she was going to develop a paralysis toxin without a more thorough knowledge of her resources, she had hoped Raina would take the lead on that. “It will allow you all the more time to focus on the Terragin crystals and Coulson will still get a proposal for what he’s looking for.”

“I don’t understand, this project was going to put us on top, the whole department was going to be ours why are you jumping ship now?” Jemma didn’t know how to reply. “You’ve been out of it since the Benefit Serum was stolen.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Just get your head back on straight, because when Coulson and Weaver approve my proposal I’m going to need your help to make it a reality.” Raina stepped passed her without another word. 

* * *

 

She must have really upset Raina as the woman didn’t speak to her at all the rest of the day.

Not when she asked for assistance with the halotable.

Not when she asked where to find safety goggles or protective gloves.

Not when she asked where the cafeteria was.

Which was fine. Considering the entire lab spent lunch in quarantine after Jemma accidentally mixed a compound that apparently released an unsafe gas. But how was she supposed to know, she’d never worked with that particular chemical combination before and as much as she’d researched she’d hadn’t seen anything to indicate any dangers.

Raina hadn’t even said anything to her then. Just sulked in the corner and mumbled something about lost time which Jemma chose to ignore given she had even bigger issues with lost time. 

By the end of the day she was seriously starting to doubt she could do the project.

Everyone else had already left for the evening when Jemma called it quits for the night. She locked up the empty lab with the key she found in her desk. Her arms, loaded down with every bit of research she could hold, slowed her down as she walked through the empty halls.

Every few seconds she glanced down at the To Do List on the top of the pile.

A proposal, by Thursday, was impossible.

She should just toss it all in the recycle bin and help Raina with her project. There was even one at the end of the hall.

Jemma stopped in front of it. Lifting the pile of papers over it and preparing to drop it inside. She could always give the project a second go once she had her memories back and could move around the lab like she usually did.

“Dr. Simmons, you’re here late.” Jemma looked up to see Melinda May, the representative from the transportation department, approaching her. The woman appeared to always wear a neutral expression, which was preferred to Raina's skeptically one for sure. “Coulson will be excited to know you're already invested.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, he’s been trying to move forward on this project for years, just been waiting for SHIELD to give him the go ahead, couldn’t have picked a better person for the job.” Jemma quickly pulled the papers to her chest.

“Really?”

“I know I don’t get to work with you that often since our fields don’t overlap much, but Coulson has nothing but praise for you and your input on the new fuel formula has led to a greater performance in testing so I have to assume there is something to it.” May explained. She gave her a once over, eyes stopping on the papers. “You have a different opinion?”

Jemma hesitated in responding. Something about the stare May shot at her made it impossible to lie. “Just some doubts, it’s an amazing project, maybe too amazing for me, at least right now.” She leaned back against the wall, staring down at her list. There weren’t enough hours in the day to get it done.

“Hey, you’ve got time, you just have to present ideas on Thursday, enough to win over Coulson which shouldn’t be too hard to do.” May said. “And if you need help, ask, you’re surrounding by the best minds there are and if you think there is someone better, tell Coulson, he’ll get you what you need.”

“You really think we can make this idea a reality.”

“I think _you_ can.”

Jemma smiled, an unnoticeable blush on her cheeks thanks to the dim lights. If this woman had so much faith in her surely she could get this job done. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLOT PLOT PLOT. actually non fluff plot causing trouble for me. But here it is. And the next chapter is back to fluff sooo maybe it wont take so long to post that one.


	13. A First Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma finally get to go on a date with a handsome, sweet, smart guy. And while on her date she runs into another sweet and smart and hansome guy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A chapter posting before the finale kills me tonight. Assuming it doesn't hopefully I will post more frequently over hiatus.

“Are you ready to go?”

Jemma had to forcibly drag her eyes away from the screen when she realized the voice that was speaking was speaking to her. She was so enthralled with the research she had found she hadn’t heard anyone come in. Triplett was standing in what she now realized was an almost empty lab, her companions having already left for the night.

“Oh!” Jemma twisted her hand around to look at her watch only to remember there wasn’t one there and redirected her attention to the corner of the computer screen. Seven o’ clock already? She had been planning to go home to change before returning to SHIELD to meet him for their date. “I didn’t realize the time, I wanted to change, I still can if there’s time.” She said, shedding her lab coat.

Triplett shook his head. “No need, you’re fine, it’s just dinner.” She looked down at her dark jeans and polka dotted blouse. She supposed it was okay but she had picked out a much prettier outfit, this being her first date and all. “Or if you really want to we can swing by your apartment first.”

“Could we? It’ll only take me a moment to change.”

“Yeah, no problem, it’s on the way anyways.” Jemma fumbled around the lab putting things away in their proper places, shutting down her computer, gathering her notes to review when she got home, if it wasn’t too late. “Alright let’s go.”

As it turned out Antoine Triplett was a perfect gentleman. He held the lab door and the building door for her. As well as the cab door. “We’ll just take it to your apartment so were not late for the reservations.” On the drive over he asked her about her day and she immediately started on about the properties of dendrotoxin, about how a proper dosage should be able to cause a state of instant paralysis. She was pleased to find he was quite smart and followed along easily. When they pulled up to The Griffith he paid the cab driver and ran around the car to open her door.

“You really don’t have to do that.”

“Habit,” he said dropping the hand he held out to her to help her out of the cab. “I’ll stop if you want.”

She shook her head. “No, no it’s fine, but ah, let me return the favor sometimes.” She scooted sloppily out of the cab and hurried to grab the door of the apartment building to hold it open for him. He grinned at her and made a show of entering the building only to have his smile drop when a shrill voice shouted her name. “MS. SIMMONS!”

Ms. Fry was making a beeline for her from her perch at the front desk.

“Ms. Fry, how are you?”

“Ms. Simmons you know the rules for male guests, you need to give us twelve hours’ notice, it is part of the security-“

“Of the building, yes I know, but you see I’m just here to quickly change for our date and then we’ll be leaving, so long as he doesn’t leave the lobby no notice is necessary.” Jemma explained. After Ms. Fry’s warning the other day she found her lease agreement and carefully read through all the details. Ms. Fry looked over Triplett with a suspicious eye which caused him to hold his hand out in greeting.

“Antoine Triplett.”

The woman ignored his hand and focused her attention on Jemma. “Well go change, quickly, I’ve got a lot to do and can’t spend my whole evening babysitting.” Jemma nodded and with an apologetic smile at Trip hurried away to the elevator.

It was quick enough to change clothes. She had laid out the dress she planned to wear on her bed that morning along with a jacket and shoes. She peeked in the mirror to check her hair and make-up wasn’t too messy from work and then rushed back out of the apartment as she applied fresh lip gloss. She thought she had been quick. Ten minutes maybe twelve so she was surprised when she returned to the lobby and found Trip seated in an arm chair with Daisy seated across from him, gesticulating so widely it would have been impossible to miss her.

“Hey!” Daisy shouted to her across the room, earning a frown from Ms. Fry. “You never leave your apartment except for work and the first time you do it’s for a date with _this_ , do all the scientists at this lab you work at have to meet an attractiveness requirement.”

“Daisy!” Jemma scolded, “Trip, I’m sorry, this is my neighbor she’s a very open with her thoughts.”

“Nah, it’s cool, she ah saved me from the super.” He lowered his voice as he said the last bit.

“She was scolding him about holding doors open for ladies not the other way around.” Daisy said. “He was explaining to me that he typically did hold open doors but he didn’t want to offend his date.”

“OH NO! I wasn’t offended I swear I just—“

“Relax girl, I know, come’ on we’re gonna be late.” He stood and offered her his elbow. She thought it was strange until he subtly tilted his head towards Ms. Fry and she rested her hand on his arm to appease the older woman. “It was nice meeting you Daisy.”

“Yes it was.” Daisy mumbled, perfectly loud enough for them to hear.

 

Trip found an even balance between being a gentleman and letting her be independent. She honestly didn’t mind when he took her coat and pulled out her seat at the restaurant. They had once again fallen into conversation about her current project and it wasn’t till they had ordered their food that she realized she’d only been talking about herself. “I’m being terribly rude, you should talk now.” She insisted.

“It’ fine really, what’d you want to know?”

Jemma faltered. How was she supposed to initiate a conversation when she didn’t know anything about him? She didn’t even know why she would have originally agreed to the date. She could make some guesses of course knowing that Trip was kind, smart, handsome, and given his build probably quite athletic. But what was he to her? Did she have crush on him? Was she hopelessly in love with him? She wondered how they met and how long they’d know each other. It was probably working on an assignment but she wanted to know more.

“Tell me why you asked me out.” Jemma said as casually as she could make it sound.

Trip sat back in his seat and looked her face over carefully. “People keep asking me that, I keep wondering what they know that I don’t?”

She didn’t know what to say to that. What was it anyone else’s business why he asked her out.

“They also seemed pretty surprised you said yes.” Trip added. Well why wouldn’t she? “Honestly I thought I was asking out a beautiful, smart, kind albeit reserved woman and they all act like I’ve asked out –“ He stopped talking and Jemma wanted to know why he was hesitating.

“What?”

“Honestly?”

“Yes please.”

“They think you’re a workaholic.” He said plainly. Well that wasn’t so bad. “A little bit harsh, pretentious, quiet, although we both know that’s not always true and some just think you’re very standoffish.”

Jemma squirmed in her chair. She had never heard any of those adjectives used to describe her. She knew she was smarter that most but she never implied that made her better than anyone else. Not to mention she was always friendly to others. She could be competitive, maybe that could be mistaken that for those less appealing qualities.

“I can kind of see where they may be coming from, I won’t say I thought the same way but before we worked together on the Benefit Serum I wouldn’t have asked you to sit down and have lunch with me.”

She didn’t know what to say but she did feel tears pricking her eyes. Trip quickly reached across the table to take her hand. “Okay no tears, once I got to know you I thought you were pretty cool, people just aren’t taking the time to see that and to be fair you’re not going out of your way to show them.”

“Sorry I’m being silly,” she wiped at her eyes.

“No need to apologize, I wouldn’t have brought it up but you wanted to know.”

“Thank you for telling me.”

Trip grinned, “we’ve got to change the subject to something less gloomy.”

“Tell me about you.” Jemma said.

“Not much you don’t know.” He started to tell her about his job and his family. Why he chose his job and why he loved his family. Jemma listened happily until their dinner came. Then conversation slipped into generic topics like food and weather.

* * *

 

“Fitz?”

Jemma stopped in her tracks when she and Trip stepped out of the restaurant and she found him waiting outside. He looked up, having been staring down at his shoes, his eyes wide in surprise. “Jemma?”

“Hi Fitz.” She really couldn’t think of anything to say. It seemed like that happened every time they’d crossed paths since she’d woken up. She had unfortunately taken to blurting out the first thing that came to mind. “I’m on a date!”

“I thought you might be.” He said. He turned slightly in Trip’s direction and held out his hand. “Fitz.”

“Antoine Triplett.”

There was an awkward silence after introductions. Jemma tried to remedy her outburst. “Fitz and I used to work together and uh, Trip and I work together now, sometimes.”

“Depends on the project.” Trip explained. “Are you a fellow biochemist.”

“Uh no, Engineering actually.”

“Fitz has a terribly sensitive constitution.” Jemma explained. Even in the light of just the street lamps Jemma could see Fitz’s cheeks flush. “So uh what are you doing here?”

“I’m here meeting someone, uh actually I’m here to meet her.” He gestured behind them and Jemma turned to see a pretty red headed woman moving towards them with a cellphone tucked to her ear. The woman gave a small smile, a grimace really, when she saw them and then quickly returned to her conversation.

“I’ve got to go, I think I’m late for something.” She hung up the phone, stepped over to Fitz and kissed him on the cheek before moving her eyes to Jemma and Trip. “I wish you would have told me this was going to be a double date Leo, I would have gotten here sooner.”

“Not a double date, just a run in, Lorelai this is my old friend Jemma and her date Antoine Triplett, Jemma, Triplett this is Lorelai my fiancé.” Jemma nodded along with a smile on her face through all the introductions until the word fiancé crossed Fitz’s lips and she did a double take. Her eyes moved from Lorelai to Fitz in a split second and she saw he was avoiding her gaze.

Lorelai looked her over curiously before a smile appeared on her face. “Oh yes, Jemma, Leo’s told all about you and then when he ran into you the other day, must have been a great little reunion.” Jemma was still trying to process everything and the fact that this woman kept calling Fitz ‘Leo’ was really throwing her for a loop.

“Must be serious, Fitz never lets anyone call him Leo.” Jemma said teasingly. Although Fitz didn’t look particularly amused. 

“Yes, he is quite stubborn about that, no idea why, it such a strong name, he should be proud of it.”

Jemma didn’t necessarily agree. She did like the name Leo but when they’d first met Fitz said he preferred to go by his last name and she though it suited him just as well.

“So are you a fellow engineer?” Trip asked Lorelai politely.

“Oh no, no, that would be horribly boring,” Lorelai exclaimed and Jemma thought she must have heard wrong. Engineering could hardly be described as boring. There was so many sub fields that even if one was not of your interest certainly one of the others would be. “I’m a sales representative for a company back in London, I’m constantly making trips over there but I think once this is official,” she flashed her left hand baring a pretty engagement ring, “I’ll be able to persuade him,” she nudged Fitz, “to move over there with me so there’s less back and forth.”

“You’re moving to England?!” Jemma exclaimed.

“Well maybe, I—“ Fitz started to say only to have Lorelai cut him off.

“Don’t we have a reservation; we should probably get to it.”

Fitz nodded. “Right, it was nice seeing you again Jemma and nice meeting you Triplett.”

“Likewise.” Trip replied and after a delay Jemma shouted at them to have a goodnight. They probably couldn’t hear her though, they’d already entered the restaurant.

“Shall we get going then?” Trip asked her. She shook herself out of whatever trance she was in and nodded at him. Sensing something might be wrong Trip asked her if she was alright.

“Oh yes, quite alright, I’m just a bit shocked is all.” She explained and then elaborated. “Fitz is, well he’s always been a bit shy around girls, although he’s not a teenager anymore, I guess he’s just grown out of it.”

“You’ve known him since you were teenagers?” Trip asked curiously.

“Oh even before then, two British child prodigies, we’d crossed paths almost our whole lives, became friends spending time together at conferences, interviews, national science fairs, by the time we graduated we were the best of friends and decided to go university together.”

“That’s really nice.”

“Yeah, it was, It’s weird because we had so much in common life experience wise that is but as far as our studies go they really couldn’t be more different-“ Trip nodded and Jemma took that as a sign to continue. She continued to talk during the walk back to her building.

“So, did you have a nice time tonight?” Trip asked at the first pause in their one sided conversation.

He sounded genuinely unsure. Jemma looked up at him with a sincere smile. “I had a wonderful night really.” Jemma gripped his hand a bit more firmly to make sure he understood. Overall it had been lovely. Very much how she expected her first date to go. Nice dinner, good conversation, a few awkward hurdles they managed to jump with relative ease.

“I’m glad.”

Now that they were coming up on her apartment building Jemma wondered if her first date would end in true first date fashion. She glanced up a Trip again, he was very tall. The top of her head barely came past his shoulder. She wondered if it would be difficult to kiss him. She supposed he would lean down and meet her halfway.

Remembering their run in with Ms. Fry Jemma stopped them outside the building. “You’re not going to make me go back in there are you?” Trip asked her.

Jemma laughed. “No, no we can stay out here.”

The pair stood. Jemma shifting from foot to foot and Trip looking skyward.

“Well I guess I’ll see you at work, have a good night.”

“Oh,” her smile fell.

“Is something wrong?”

“Nothing, did _you_ not have a good time.”

“Of course I did.”

“Oh.” She said again, her shoulders slumping.

“Alright now I know somethings wrong.”

“It’s nothing, I thought maybe you would kiss me good night?” Jemma said honestly.

Trip nodded in understanding. “I was thinking about it, a little hesitant given that you’ve been talking about some other guy most of the walk home.”

“Oh,” she hadn’t realized. “I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean too.”

“It’s cool, I just got the impression that you might not want me to kiss you.”

“You can, if you want to that is.” Jemma said encouragingly.

Jemma was sure she saw him glance at the doors to the building. Probably waiting for Ms. Fry to burst through them and scold him for improper intentions. When he looked back at her she smiled widely. He was really sweet but Jemma wasn’t thinking too far ahead. She wanted a kiss to top off her first date but not a boyfriend.

Lost in her thoughts she didn’t see him lean in until he was a few inches away. She panicked at the sudden shift and stumbled backwards. Trip’s eyes opened in surprise and she started apologizing profusely. “I am so sorry, I just got distracted and then you went for it when I wasn’t paying attention and we can try again.” She added positively.

When Trip hesitated again Jemma tried to be reassuring. “Really I won’t move this time, I’ll even—“ She would just initiate it herself. She thought confidently.  Make it impossible to miss. She pushed herself on to her toes, craned her neck up towards him, took his face in her hands and pulled him down to her. She closed her eyes thinking that was what she was supposed to do but regretted when her nose smashed into his. She yelped in pain, pulling back her hands to cover her nose and he grunted. One of them was coming out of this with a broken nose.

“I’m so sorry!” She cried. Trip was tentatively prodding his own nose.

“I think it’s bleeding.” He said. To Jemma’s relief he didn’t sound angry, just amused. It didn’t stop her from feeling horrible.

“You should come in, I can check if it’s broken, patch it up, make you some tea.” She suggested.

“No worries, it’s definitely not broken.” She didn’t know what to say or what to offer. All she really wanted to do was crawl into bed and hide herself from the embarrassment.

“You’re certain you’re okay?”

“I promise.”

“Oh you must think I’m just terrible, talking about another guy and breaking your nose and knocking into the waiter when I got up to go to the ladies room earlier and spilled that family’s food and-“ he’s laughing at her. His laugh is hearty and sincere and infectious and soon she is laughing too.  “We’re still friends though, even though this was a mess?”

“You’re an odd bird Dr. Simmons, but yeah, we’re still friends; I’ll see you around work?”

Jemma nodded. He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her cheek before walking past her down the street.

**Author's Note:**

> I had previously started posting this before it was really ready for posting. I've done some editing and revising and I think it was for the better but these first few chapters may be a bit familiar to those who read it the first time around. But if you can suffer through it one more time I promise the story gets better as it goes.


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